Wildfire
by Abbodon
Summary: A boy with the power to control fire leaves on a journey that will lead him through many challenges even taking on others who share his powers I know it's cliche but please bear with me on this
1. Chapter 1

**Wildfire: Chapter 1**

**This story is rated for violence and if i decide to take the story in that directon I may have a lemon or three included as well.**

Two years ago:

Simon's eyes snapped open, he leant over and clicked on the light on his bed side cabinet before glancing at the clock on the wall, he sighed it was midnight. Then it came again the squeal that had woke him up, he threw the covers off and dashed down the stairs as fast as he could while still keeping quiet enough so as not to wake his parents. His hand darted out and grabbed the key off its usual place on the sideboard at the bottom of the stairs; there was only the short distance of the front hall to go now. It came again a pitiful howl weaker than before, redoubling his efforts Simon put and extra burst of speed on and flew across the hall, stopping abruptly he fumbled with the door key trying to unlock the door 'come on, come on." He mumbled under his breath. Finally he heard the click off the lock, he shoved open the door not bothering to shut it behind him and ran towards the forest his house backed up onto. Sprinting into the woods his eyes darted left and right looking for the source of the noise he had heard. His run through the forest came to a quick halt however as he heard a howl go up into the night air shortly followed by the pitiful whine he was searching for, a shiver ran down Simon's spine he could only imagine what was happening to that poor creature. Pausing briefly to catch his breath and to snap a branch off a nearby tree, he didn't like the sound of that howl; Simon sprinted in the direction of the noises.

After another minute of frantic running he broke into a clearing, a low growl came from behind him. Spinning around Simon saw a large Mightyena hackles raised advancing on a small Vulpix that was cowering in a small hollow in a tree trunk. "Oi, over here you overgrown mutt" Simon shouted, the Mightyena turned his head and bared its teeth at Simon then began to advance on him. Simon backed off slowly cursing himself for his 'bravery' the Mightyena pounced and Simon swung the branch in self defence, it caught the Mightyena in the side of it's head knocking it to a side but doing no real damage. The Mightyena picked itself up growling angrily, great I just made it mad think next time Simon berated himself, the Mightyena sized up its opponent then pounced a second time, Simon swung the stick again but it missed completely. The Mightyena sunk it's jaws into Simon arm, his eyes flashed red as he screamed in agony and kicked out at the Mightyena his foot caught it in its stomach and winded the Pokemon, it released Simon's arm from its jaws and backed off preparing for another attack. Simon dropped the stick tears falling down his face, he couldn't feel his arm, a howl from the Mightyena quickly brought him back to his senses however, remembering the stick he picked it up with his good arm and swung it like a sword. The Mightyena aimed its next attack for Simon's throat as it jumped at him; Simon ducked under the Mightyena's jaws and drove his stick upwards into its stomach. Unfortunately it was too blunt to deal any real damage and the Mightyena landed gracefully then turned for another strike. The Mightyena leapt into the air intending to come down on Simon's stomach but he Simon kicked it in the face with both feet launching it backwards into the undergrowth with a sickening crack. Simon struggled to his feet and glanced at his arm the arm of his pyjama top was almost completely shredded and what little was left was soaked with his blood. A pitiful cry from the other side of the clearing reminded Simon why he came out here in the first place; he walked over to the Vulpix's hiding place and knelt down so he was eye to eye with the terrified Pokemon "Hey there, I not coming to hurt you, please come out it's okay." He gently coaxed the Vulpix out of its cubby hole. It slowly emerged from the hole shaking with fright, Simon carefully reached out to touch it's head "Ssh, its okay I won't hurt you" he tried to calm the little thing down. He stroked the Vulpix trying to calm it down while checking its body for any injury, there was a large scratch on one of it's rear legs and it looked pained by it "Ah, you're hurt too" Simon said gently "I'll help you please just trust me." He reached forward to pick up the Vulpix; surprisingly it didn't try to stop him it leapt into his arms when he reached forward. Wincing as the felt the weight of the Pokemon on his injured arm Simon carefully made his way home, how was he going to explain this to mum!

* * *

Simon slowly opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a Vulpix she was licking his nose and her tails were wagging wildly "Good morning ember" he yawned. Ember jumped off his bed onto the floor and 'vul'ed happily, Simon laughed as he rolled out of bed "Someone's eager to leave on our journey" he leant down and scratched the Vulpix affectionately behind it's ear "You go get my bag while I get dressed k?". Ember barked and nodded her head to show she had understood then padded out of his room. Simon gently pushed the door too then threw on his travelling gear; blue jeans and a black tee-shirt then grabbed a navy blue jumper off his chair and tied it round his waist he paused and glanced in a mirror, he was quite tall for his age and had short brown hair and alert blue eyes, he shifted the sleeve of his t-shirt to hide the crisscross of stitches on his left arm then walked downstairs towards the door. He was greeted at the door by Ember who had his rucksack in her mouth and was wagging her tails. Leaning down Simon gently took the bag from her teeth "Thanks girl, so I guess we'll say goodbye then we'll be on our way." Ember yapped and jumped up into Simon's arms, "Hey lazy, I'm not carrying you all the way to Littleroot"

"Vuulpix" Ember replied

Simon laughed at her tone of voice "You know Ember; I really wish I could understand what you say"

Simon carefully shifted Ember so she would be comfortable "Mum's waiting down by the poke mart we shouldn't be late"


	2. Chapter 2

**Wildfire: Chapter 2**

Oh and since I forgot to put these in my first chapter, Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OCs and also if you enjoyed this can you review and let me know please.

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Simon stepped outside his house and took a deep breath, the familiar scent of the flowers for which his home town was famous hit his nostrils. Turning he locked the door and began to make his way to the poke mart. Although Simon lived on the opposite end of town it was a fairly short walk. He smiled as he rounded the corner and spotted his mother waiting outside the store. Lots of people claimed Simon looked just like his mother; she had long brown hair and the same striking blue eyes, stooping down he picked up Ember carefully before running down the street.

"Hey mum!" he called

She turned around to see her son running up, "Good morning honey, good morning Ember"  
Simon sighed "Morning"

Ember added a happy "vul"

"I got some presents for you before you leave" his mother said before pulling him into a hug.

"Wow, really?" Simon asked pleasantly surprised

His mother smiled and nodded "Here you go" she handed him three things; a largish brown box, a small black cylinder and a red bag with a large orange flame embalm on it, "I got you a bike so you can get around quicker, it's fold up for easy storage too, the bag contains some of Embers favourite treats." She leaned forward and scratched Ember behind the ear affectionately, "and finally I got you some painkillers in case your arm plays up again."  
"Thank for the stuff mum" Simon says, he glances down at his watch "well I better be going if I want to get to Jubilife city by sundown"

"Ok take care honey" his mother gave him a kiss on the forehead eliciting an embarrassed groan.

"Bye mum" Simon says giving her one last hug before heading off towards route 204. Simon took a small detour to grab a bite to eat for him and Ember and to double check his map. Finishing off his sandwich he unfolded his new bike.

"Hmm we may have a problem" he said thoughtfully "I don't think there's enough room for you" he sat mounted the bike "you think you can get on?"

Ember cocked her head to the side then gave a happy "vul vulpix" before leaping up onto the bike between Simon and the handlebars.

"Ok" Simon laughed "but how do I steer now?"

Vulpix hung her head sadly "Hey, hey it's not your thought you tried" Simon said trying to cheer her up "look if we can't get you on this thing I'll just walk"

Ember gave a happy nod a leapt down from the bike, Simon folded the bike back up a slid it onto his backpack sighing "Well Ember lets get going" he declared.

The pair had only been walking for a short while when they spotted another person coming up the route towards Floaroma town, he was quite tall and had short black hair and was wearing jeans and a khaki vest, and Simon couldn't make out his eyes behind his sunglasses. As he approached he spotted Ember.

"So you're a Pokemon trainer are ya?"

"Yes, my name is Simon. Who are you?"

"My name's not important kido, I challenge you to a battle."

Simon leant down "Hey Ember you feel up to a fight?"

Ember nodded and leapt forward in a fighting pose, "Ok you're on but I have only got Ember here"

"Fine by me" the man replied "I'll crush that runt" The man pulled a pokeball off his belt and tossed it into the air. In a bright flash of light a Quilava appeared.

"Ember is not a runt" Simon shouted his eyes flashing red

"Vul, vul vul pix!" Ember added angrily

"Quilava take down now!" the man ordered in a harsh voice, the Quilava charged at Ember his head lowered.

"Quick Ember jump and use ember", Ember waited until the last second before gracefully leaping above Quilava's attack, twisting in midair Ember brought her head round and hit Quilava in the back of the head with a powerful burst of flame. Quilava skidded to a stop wincing from the pain.

"Quilava fire blast now!" The man yelled furious Quilava looked scared for a second but a loom of determination quickly appeared on it's face, the fires on it's back grew larger and hotter as it sucked in air. Exhaling a large man shaped blast of fire the Quilava stumbled backwards and fell over shivering violently it's fire almost completely gone.

Simon was shocked "Ember dodge it quickly" Ember dove to a side but the blast still caught her hind legs, she fell to the ground crying out in pain.

"Good it's down finish it off" the ma n shouted to his Quilava seemingly oblivious of it's condition, Quilava struggled to rise but couldn't get up it flopped pathetically back to the ground shaking violently, "get up you worthless piece of shit!" the man yelled furious.

Simon watched this getting angrier and angrier but his concern for Ember came first kneeling down he checked her up "You okay?"

Ember nodded feebly "vul pix vul"

Simon laughed understanding Ember's tone of voice, "I think it's a bit worse than that" he leant down to pick her up but was interrupted by a feeble cry from Quilava. Simon jerked his head up to see the man kicking his Quilava yelling at it.

Simon stood up his fists clenched his eyes no longer their usual blue where a shade of angry red and his fists where gently smoking, "Leave her alone" he yelled at the man.

He turned to look at Simon and scoffed "What good is a fire type that can't even use fire blast!" he aimed another kick at Quilava.

Quilava squealed in pain "stop it please!" Simon didn't have time to dwell on the fact he had understood her.

"She almost kills herself helping you and this is how you repay her!" he yelled walking slowly towards the man smoke pouring profusely from his fists

The man kicked Quilava one last time "This Quilava is mine and will do what I bloody well please, now get up or I will kill you" he directed his last statement to the Quilava lying broken on the floor.

Simon gritted his teeth and quickly closed the gap between him and the man "You will leave her alone!" he spat at the man vehemently.

"Or what?" the man asked "What is a little shit like you going to do about it." He swung a foot at the Quilava's head.

Simon grabbed the mans foot "This" he spat back, the man yelled in pain as he felt a sudden heat on his leg. Tearing it away from Simon he looked at him fear showing in his eyes "Fine keep it then you little bastered" he shouted before limping away.

Simon knelt down at the Quilava's side his eyes returning to their normal colour as the anger drained from his system. He looked it up and down, it had horrible bruises all over it's stomach and a thin trickle of blood leaked out of its mouth, scooping it up into his arms Simon realised that it was freezing. He ran back over to Ember who had picked herself up "Jump up, I've got to get this Quilava to a Pokemon centre fast and you're in no condition to run"

Ember jumped up into Simon's free hand and he took off at a dead sprint back towards Floaroma town the Quilava cradled in one arm and Ember in the other.


	3. Chapter 3

**Wildfire: Chapter 3**

Simon sprinted into the Pokemon centre praising Arceus for the automatic doors they had had installed last year. Sprinting up to the desk panting heavily he called out "Nurse Joy, we need help now!"

Nurse Joy came out of a back room and turned to face Simon, her face paled as she saw the condition of the Quilava. Calling for some Chansey she carefully took the Quilava out of his hands and placed it on the stretcher the Chansey had brought out. "I'll be out to have a word with you later" Nurse Joy said accusingly poking Simon in the ribs with her finger "How dare you let your Pokemon get into this condition." And without letting Simon say a word she ran into the operation theatre following the Chansey. Simon went over to a table and carefully placed Ember down.

"Now then lets take care of the burn shall we?" he asked concerned at the amount of pain Ember appeared to be in.

"vuuuul" Vulpix moaned feebly as Simon carefully applied the burn heal to her leg.

Simon shook his head "I know it stings, but it'll feel better in the end" he reassured her stroking her head lovingly. Ember relaxed and let Simon apply the salve to her leg still letting out quiet vuls when he got to a particularly tender area. Soon enough her entire leg was coated.

"There we go" Simon said relieved he hated seeing Ember in pain and could barely stand being the one to cause it even if he did know it was preventing further injury. Reaching into his bag he pulled out the bag of treats his mother had given him and popped one into Embers mouth.

"You're going to have to rest for a few hours to let that burn heal do it's job, k?" he looked down at Ember who was happily chewing away at the treat her leg seemingly forgotten. Simon chuckled to himself he had forgotten how much she enjoyed these things. Pulling ember onto his lap he mulled over the day's events absently stroking her.

They where both still sitting in that position when Nurse Joy finally emerged from the operating room an hour and a half later. Ember was asleep in Simon's lap and he was sitting gazing off into space absently scratching her behind the ear. Noticing the burn heal applied to Ember's leg Nurse Joy walked over to him slightly confused, how could this boy treat one Pokemon so well but let another get in such a bad way.

"So what happened to your Quilava?" she asked still angry but willing to give this boy a chance.

Simon shifted Ember off his lap and carefully set her down on the couch so as not to wake her, then stood up, "First off it's not my Quilava and can we take this into another room Ember is sleeping and I don't want to wake her."  
Nurse Joy nodded; it made a bit more sense now "Ok then we'll go into my office" she walked off towards the second door that led off from behind the reception desk.

Simon followed close behind but had to make sure "I assume the Quilava is okay then?"

Nurse Joy nodded "Yes she'll be fine…" She searched for his name "I never got you name"

Simon sighed with relief then answered "It's Simon" he glanced around the Pokemon centre the only other people in the centre where a teenage couple sitting in a corner; their Nidarino and Nidorina rubbing up against each other happily and an old man sitting by himself slowly drinking from a large cup of what Simon assumed to be tea.

"Slow night" he asked

Nurse Joy nodded "Yes it's never that busy around here because there is no local gym but still.." she trailed off as she reached the door to her office, pulling her employee key card off from around her neck where it normally hung she quickly swiped it into the lock on the door. With a hydraulic swish the door slid open. Simon looked around the room it was fairly small; there was maybe enough room for four people to move around. The room was sparsely decorated; in the centre of the room was a large coffee table with couches on either side providing seating, in the far right corner a small bookcase stood and opposite that was a small sink with a kettle sitting next to it. The walks where a soft pink and there were a few photos of the town past and present dotting the wall. Nurse joy sat down on one sofa and gestured for Simon to sit on the one opposite her.

"So tell me what happened, you know that Quilava was practically dead when you brought it in here."

Simon nodded sadly "I know, as for the story it's quite long are you sure you've got the time?"

Nurse Joy nodded "Well if something urgent comes up I can leave but the Chansey should be able to run things without me."

Simon sighed and began to recount the events leading up to Quilava's incarceration.

If you liked this please review, and if you didn't please review anyway with constructive criticism. I'm hoping to upload chapter 4 tonight since I just drank like a litre of coffee so stick around.


	4. Chapter 4

**Wildfire: Chapter 4**

It took Simon half an hour to fully explain what had happened, he left out the bits he didn't understand himself; being able to understand Quilava if briefly and how the man had been burned.

Nurse Joy nodded a little dumbstruck by his story "Well I guess you'll want to see Quilava now?"

Simon nodded "yes I'd love to but first I'd better go and get Ember she'll freak if she wakes up and I'm not there."

Nurse joy nodded "Okay then lets get going"

Simon walked out of the back-room and headed over to the seat where he had left Ember and his bags, he gently shook Ember awake "Hey Ember wake up; we can go see how Quilava is doing how"

Ember stretched and slowly got to her feet letting out a relieved sigh when she discovered her burn almost completely healed up. She leapt down onto the floor and followed Simon towards the recovery rooms.

"So what exactly was wrong with Quilava?" Simon asked Nurse Joy

Nurse Joy's face became grave "She had two broken ribs which caused some mild haemorrhaging and her internal body heat had dropped to critical levels, she had used up her internal flame."

Simon's eyes widened in shock he knew it was bad but he had never expected it to be quite as serious as that "Will she recover?"

Nurse Joy looked at her feet "She's stable that much I could do, her ribs have been set and her core body temperature has been stabilized but I doubt she will ever be able to use fire attacks ever again and her ribs will certainly never fully recover."

Simon stood there the news not fully sinking in, "Is she conscious?" he asked shakily

Nurse Joy nodded "Yes she is but I don't know if going in is wise, I doubt she will trust humans again."

Simon shook his head "Listen you can't release her into the wild in her condition and she certainly can't stay here; what kind of life is that for a Quilava. Let me try and convince her to come with me."

Nurse Joy nodded "Ok then you can try" she said impressed at his love for Pokemon.

Simon pushed open the door to Quilava's room carefully thanking Nurse Joy for the opportunity. Holding the door open just long enough for Ember to slip in before him he slowly approached the bed Quilava was lying in. Reaching out gently he stroked the Quilava's head marvelling at how soft her fur was. Quilava shied away from his hand fear in her eyes.

Simon leant down it broke his heart to see any Pokemon like this "Shh, I'm not going to hurt you" he tried to reassure Quilava but it was all too obvious that she was absolutely petrified of him. Simon stood up slowly and pulled off his bag, opening it he started rummaging through for some food or something he could give Quilava. Finally he found his berry box pulling it out he clicked open the metal box and pulled out an Oran berry and held it out to the Quilava. Quilava leant over and gently nibbled at the berry; however as soon as Simon moved his other hand she snapped her head back the fear coming through yet again. Simon sighed and left the Oran berry on the bed for Quilava, he wiped a few tears from his eyes, he had to succeed for Quilava's sake if nothing else. Simon felt a gentle tug at his trouser leg, looking down he saw Ember, she had pulled out her bag of treats and was nudging them towards Quilava with her nose.

Simon Leant down "Are you sure?"

"vul" Ember replied nodding her head "vul vuul pix" she added sounding a little distressed.

Simon got the message, Ember was worried about Quilava too "Okay then we'll try your idea" he said "and if it works you'll be having a special dinner" he leant down, picked up the bag of treats and scratched Ember on the head.

During this exchange the Quilava had finished off the Oran berry, but when Simon approached her bedside again she showed no improvement.

Simon reached into the bag and pulled out one of the small reddish treats. He held it out to Quilava, "Here you go"

Quilava sniffed the air and slowly turned its head towards the treat. She took a tentative first bite but then immediately snatched the whole treat from Simon's hand.

"Wow, those things must be good" Simon chuckled to himself, "Now let's try this again" He slowly reached out a brushed Quilava's head she shook a little but didn't shy away. Simon sighed in relief finally she was showing some improvement, it took five minutes of gentle coaxing but Quilava finally let him pick her up. Simon was beaming as he gently carried Quilava out of her recovery room and past a shocked Nurse Joy. He placed her gently on his table and told Ember to wait there while he got supper. Turning around he noticed Nurse Joy was at the receptionist's desk keeping a close eye on him and Quilava.

"Ah good now I don't have to come looking for you." He declared a grin still on his face "Can I order some supper please?"

Nurse Joy nodded "Sure what do you want?" she was going to ask how he got Quilava to trust him but decided against it after all it had taken him six minutes to do it.

Simon thought about it for a few seconds "Three portions of your hottest chicken curry please." He had promised Ember a special meal so he was ordering her favourite, he reached into his bag and pulled out four of the treats "and could you add these crushed up into the two for the Pokemon please?"

Nurse Joy nodded politely "Of course, it'll be ready in ten minutes"

"Thank you" Simon said turning and heading back towards his table.

He slid into a seat beside Ember "I got you your favourite" he declared petting her

"vul vul pix vuuuul" Ember declared wagging her tails

Simon laughed "No problem" he turned to Quilava "I hope you like curry" he said "if you don't there could be some problems down the line" he added jokingly

Quilava lifted her head off her paws slowly "Quil Quil ava" she said slowly

Simon smiled the fear in her eyes was almost gone he reached forward and stroked her head slowly "good to know" he said assuming what she said was a yes.

Nurse Joy came out a little earlier than Simon had expected carrying three bowels. She carefully sat them down at the table whilst Simon was reassuring Quilava that Nurse Joy meant her no harm.

"Okay everyone dig in" Nurse Joy said as she placed Simon's bowel in front of him

"Thank you" Simon said, "Vuul" Ember added enthusiastically Quilava added a shy and quiet "Quiil"

They all ate ravenously, especially Ember who all but stuck her head in the bowel. Simon laughed as he forced Ember to slow down insisting that it wouldn't taste any worse if she ate it at a normal rate.

After the meal Simon checked them all into a room for the night, chuckling slightly at the irony of spending his first night of his journey only a five minute walk from his house. Pulling off his clothes and quickly changing into his pyjamas Simon climbed into the bed. Ember jumped up after him and wiggled under the duvet. Quilava looked up at the bed almost wistfully "Hey Quilava jump up there's easily room for one more" Simon said.

"Quil ava ava" Quilava said happily before carefully climbing onto the bed, wincing as the bruises on her stomach brushed the wooden frame of the bed. Ember and Quilava quickly fell asleep but Simon lay awake for a while trying to think about how to ask Quilava to join him; if she did she would need a name… he drifted off to sleep thoughts of his Pokemon still buzzing round his head. Oh well tomorrows another day.


	5. Chapter 5

**Wildfire: Chapter 5**

Simon woke up and slowly turned his head so he could see the clock on the opposite wall, it was 7:00. Deciding that they would probably have to take it slowly as he doubted either Ember of Quilava could walk fast with their injuries and he didn't want to loose any trust by forcing Quilava into a pokeball before it was ready. He slowly and carefully slid out of the covers so as not to wake the sleeping Pokemon he padded over to the door to pick up his clothes; they had been washed overnight by Nurse Joy, making a mental note to thank her on the way out he got dressed and turned around to wake the Pokemon.

"Hey rise and shine" he leant down and scratched Embers head she stretched and slowly rose up onto her feet.

"Vuul" she yawned sleepily

Simon laughed softly "Yeah I know it's early" Ember stood on her rear legs and licked Simon's face "Yeah, good morning to you too" he said laughing harder and gently pushing Ember away "Next time I'll tell you when I need a wash" he tussled the longer hair on her head as she settled down to wait for Quilava.

Simon turned to Quilava, how could he wake her without scaring her, he decided to try what he usually tried with Ember. He reached out and gently stroked her head "Hey, come on wake up we've got to go" he said softly but loud enough to wake her. Quilava slowly opened her eyes, forgetting where she was she shied away from Simon's hand and pressed herself into the corner of the bed. Simon was devastated, didn't she remember; all that time helping her and she was still afraid, his train of thought was interrupted as he felt Quilava soft fur up against his hand again. He turned his head and saw her gently nuzzling his hand; he began stroking her head half laughing, half crying he said "Don't scare me like that again"

"Quil ava Quiil" Quilava said apologetically lowering her head

"It's not your fault" Simon said reassuringly he lifted Quilava's head so he could look into her eyes; yes there was pain there but there was also hope and something else Simon didn't recognise.

"Listen Quilava you want to come with me?" he asked carefully, he took out a pokeball and laid it on the bed "I promise I will protect you and you don't have to stay in the ball if you don't want to"

Quilava cocked her head to a side the walked over to the ball, touched the button in the middle with her nose and disappeared in a gentle red glow. Simon picked up the ball carefully and threw it into the air releasing Quilava "Thank you" he said

"Quil quiiil" Quilava said

Simon laughed "I guess since you're coming with me you're going to need a name" Quilava nodded her head in agreement "Hmm Simon mused, well I gave it a lot of thought last night; what do you think of the name Phoenix"

"Quiiil ava ava" Quilava said enthusiastically

"Okay then it's settled; welcome to the team Phoenix" he gently scratched her head then lowered her to the floor "I know you've met before but why don't you two get better acquainted whilst I go get us some breakfast."

Ember and Phoenix both nodded and began to chatter away to each other. Simon took one more glance over his shoulder to make sure they where okay then shut the door and headed downstairs looking for Nurse Joy or a Chansey.

Simon quickly located Nurse Joy at the receptionists desk, when she spotted him enter the room she turned and greeted him with a chirpy "Good morning Simon"

"Morning" Simon said back

"So what happened with that Quilava" Nurse Joy asked

Simon smiled "Her name is Phoenix and she's coming with me"

Nurse Joy nodded her head "That would probably be for the best; I know you'll take care of her."

"Thanks" Simon said

Nurse Joy spoke up again "I'm guessing you didn't come down here just for a chat" she paused for a few seconds "You want breakfast right?"

Simon laughed "That would be correct"

Ok then Nurse Joy looked down at her computer then explained "the Chansey have just finished cooking a stack of pancakes, you can take then now or we could cook something else if you're willing to wait."

"No no" Simon said "The pancakes sound fine, just make sure Ember's portion only has a little syrup. Ugh you don't want to know what happens when she gets hyper"

Nurse Joy laughed "Gotcha" she turned and started heading towards the door but stopped just before leaving the room and turned to face Simon again "Say while you're here want me to give your Vulpix and quick check-up?"

"No thank you" Simon politely explained "I usually don't use Pokemon centres for anything other than emergencies; it really helps trust if you and you're Pokemon take care of each other"

Nurse Joy nodded "I understand, I'll be out with your food shortly"

"Ok thank you" Simon said.

True to her word Nurse Joy emerged from the back room moments later carrying a plate laden with pancakes. "Here you go sweetie" she said handing the plate to Simon

"Thanks" Simon said taking the plate from Nurse Joy and heading back up to his room. Slowly pushing open the door he found Phoenix and Ember still sitting where he had left them and still talking. Simon loathed breaking up such a vivid conversation, he couldn't understand what they where saying but judging by their body language they where both having a good time. He put the plate down on the floor a slid it between them laughing at the confused expressions that appeared on their faces "Hey everyone breakfast is served" he announced.

Ember scooted over to Simon "vul vul pix vuuuul?" she asked hopefully

Simon laughed "No Ember there's no syrup remember last time?"

Ember's ears drooped "Hey, hey, hey" Simon backtracked "It wasn't your fault, we didn't know you got hyper" Ember perked up a little but was still disappointed by the lack of Syrup.

"Quiiil ava ava?" Phoenix asked, Simon guessed she wanted to know what had happened, he opened his mouth to explain but Ember cut him off. She took about two minutes to explain it to Phoenix but by the end both of them where laughing. Simon smiled their laughter was contagious "I have no idea what you just said Ember" he scolded playfully "But I'm sure it was horribly biased" Ember looked straight into Simon's eyes and blinked "I thought we agreed no playing the I'm horribly cute card" he asked laughing. Finally they had polished off the pancakes and Simon decided it was time to make a move. Standing up he picked up his backpack and put it on.

"Lets get going" he declared as Ember bounced playfully around his feet obviously happy to get going again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Wildfire: Chapter 6**

I apologise in advance as not much happens in this and the next chapter; they are mainly character development chapters.

* * *

Simon yet again set out from Floaroma town; he couldn't help but feel a slight sense of deja-vu. They walked slowly down Route 204 admiring the beautiful surroundings; the path was bordered by a thick tree line and there was an abundance of beautiful white flowers on the thin grassy verge at the edge of the road. Ember and Simon walked along drinking in the sights and smells of nature but Phoenix seemed on edge,

Simon noticed this and leant down to try and help her "Try to relax" he coaxed, Ember adding her own encouragement. Phoenix looked a little calmer and licked Simon gently on the chin as if to say thanks; Simon stood up again grinning ear to ear. They had only been walking for a few minutes when Phoenix froze staring into the flowers on the left of the road, Simon stopped and turned, "What's wrong?" he asked anxiously. Ember ran up to Phoenix and after a short exchange also began eyeing the flowers nervously. Simon noticing this behaviour decided to take a look and slowly approached the flower patch, as he got closer he saw a small patch was moving slightly. He leaned in closer and carefully parted the flowers to get a look at what was there; he stood up laughing "Don't worry it's just a Budew" he glanced back down at it "probably a baby one at that" Ember relaxed immediately but Phoenix stayed alert and Simon noticed her shifting into a fighting stance, he ran up to her "Hey, there's no need to hurt him, he's done nothing to you and he's just a little kid" Phoenix looked a little confused and cocked her head to a side but backed down nevertheless. Simon heaved a sigh of relief he wasn't sure that he could get her to back down "I don't know what you where taught by your last trainer but I do things differently to most" he explained carefully, he didn't want to upset Phoenix by reminding her of her previous trainer but at the same time she needed to understand his ethos. Phoenix settled down to listen whilst Ember went over to make friend with the little Budew

"I don't fight any Pokemon that doesn't want to fight and I won't make any Pokemon that doesn't like fighting fight" Simon explained "That Budew didn't want a fight; in fact it was terrified. I won't make anybody fight if they don't want to and I won't judge anybody on their willingness to fight" Phoenix nodded rather moved by Simon's beliefs; they seemed almost the complete opposite to her old trainer's idea that power was everything. Simon glanced over at Ember who was playing with the little Budew, they seemed to be enjoying themselves so he settled down by the roadside to wait for them to finish. Phoenix sat down next to Simon and shot him an inquisitive look, Simon noticed her out of the corner of his eye and shook his head "No, I'm not catching him either; he's too young it would be cruel to take him away from this place so young." He looked down at Phoenix who was staring at him incredulously and laughed "I guessed that pretty well didn't I?"

Phoenix nodded and inquired "Qui lava quiiil?"

Simon again shook his head but he was grinning "No I can't understand you but I have spent so long with Ember that I can take very good guesses at what she's saying, I guess that most fire type Pokemon must share a lot of body language and tines of voice as I can guess you're questions just as easily" he laughed "Of course I have always felt closest to fire types but it may be something more than just educated guesses" Simons grin faded as his face took on a pensive look. Simon's musings where interrupted when Ember came bounding up to him, his face quickly went back to the grin that appeared whenever he saw his Pokemon happy "So you had fun I gather?" he asked rhetorically scratching Ember behind her ears. Ember let out a happy "vul" and licked Simon's hand, Simon's smile grew wider "Shall we get going then?" he laughed "At this rate we won't reach Jubilife city by the end of the week"

He pulled himself to his feet and set off pausing only to check that Ember and Phoenix where following. They walked for the rest of the morning and Simon soon noticed the entrance to the Ravaged Path looming ahead of them; the Ravaged Path was an underground tunnel that joined the upper and lower sections of Route 204. Glancing up at the sum Simon realised that it was past noon, so he decided that they would stop for lunch at the next good place they found. It took mere minutes for Simon to spot a clearing through the trees; it was a little out of their way but he was sure he could just about make out the bubbling of a spring. Stepping off the path Simon began heading for this clearing, Ember and Phoenix gave him odd looks but followed nevertheless. Emerging into the clearing Simon realised it was better than he had expected; it was big enough for the group to sit comfortably, the ground was covered with wild grass and other small wildflowers dotted the floor with spots of colour, in the far corner a small spring bubbled from an outcrop and flowed gently off deeper into the forest. He turned to his friends and leant down "can you two see what you can find around here I'll prepare some lunch" he smiled and explained more carefully to Phoenix "We need to keep our supplies up and since you two can scavenge better then me you both collect berries, useful plants anything in the area whilst I make lunch" then straightening up Simon called after them "Be back in five minutes or I'm coming looking ok!" Ember and Phoenix both shouted back their replies as the disappeared into the underbrush. Humming to himself Simon reached into his bag and pulled out his supplies; he decided on a simple lunch, sandwiches.

Five minutes later Ember and Phoenix emerged from the bushes laden down with berries and plants. Simon smiled as he carefully took their burden off them, he didn't recognise everything but what he did recognise was useful; Oran berries, wild mushrooms and some Salvya weed. He decided he would keep the rest anyway and get it identified in Jubilife city that is if it wasn't mentioned in his survival guide.

"Ok then everyone dig in" he announced as they approached the plate of chicken sandwiches he had prepared for lunch. He took three sandwiches for himself and ate them whilst watching Ember demolish her share. Phoenix was eating much slower relishing the taste Simon smiled, she must really like this if she's eating it like that however his smile soured when he realised she had probably not tasted much other than low grade Pokefood before she had met him. All too soon they had finished their meal and where ready to continue on their journey. Simon invited Ember and Phoenix to drink from the stream and re-filled his canister. Then they exited the clearing and headed onwards towards the Ravaged Path.


	7. Chapter 7

**Wildfire: Chapter 7**

Okay so i lied this chpter doesn't have much character development, thats coming next chapter

* * *

Simon stepped across the threshold and into Ravaged Path Phoenix and Ember slightly behind him. The pathway continued onwards at a slight angle then went around a corner and out of sight, the entire place was lit by lamps placed at intervals along the walls unfortunately this meant some places where lit and others where the natural inky darkness of the cave the road had been built in. The cave was surprisingly noisy, the shifting of Geodude and Onix could be heard echoing around the cave and the high pitched squeal of Zubat and Golbat added to the cacophony, to top it all off the roar of fast moving water added a constant background noise. Simon increased his walking pace slightly; he wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. They made it to the bend in the path when their ears where assaulted by a horrible metallic screeching Simon clamped his hands over his ears feeling sorry for Ember and Phoenix who would be suffering far worse due to their sensitive canine ears. The noise stopped as abruptly as it had started Simon breathed a sigh of relief and leant down to make sure the Pokemon where okay. However with his back turned he didn't notice an Aron emerge from the inky blackness of the cave, it charged at his back with a tackle attack knocking Simon over, he hit the cave floor pretty hard but he didn't think he was that badly hurt. Ember and Phoenix both shouted challenges to this Aron as they took a fighting stance; Simon struggled to his feet and turned to face the Aron, he could taste blood in his mouth now. Aron shifted the metal plates on its back to create the same high pitched squeal and Simon this time recognised it as a metal sound attack. Gritting his teeth through the pain he ordered Ember forward, she leapt forward eager to get revenge both for the assault on her ears and the sneak attack on Simon. Simon couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the poor Aron as Ember let fly with a flamethrower attack. Aron struggled back to it's feet however and leapt at Ember the claws on his feet unsheathed and gleaming in the light from the lamp on the wall "Quick dodge it Ember" Simon called out, Ember however had other ideas. She dropped down so the attack scratched across her back rather than her face like Aron had intended then she hit Aron in the stomach with an ember attack as he passed over her. Ember watched with a smug grin on her face as Aron collapsed unable to fight any further, Simon smiled at Embers victory as he went over to congratulate her. As he approached Ember he noticed the three long gnashes in her back, he hadn't seen the Aron hit her because his view had been blocked by it's body. Leaning down his face now a mask of concern he pulled a potion out of his backpack, "You know the drill" he said jokingly "this is going to hurt but it'll help" Ember nodded and braced herself as Simon used about a third of the potion on the scratches on her back he took the rest a applied it liberally to the downed Aron, even if it had attacked them he couldn't leave it there to be eaten by an Onix or something. He gave Ember one quick check over to make sure that she had received no other injuries then stood up again.

"What do you say to getting out of the cave?" he asked trying to keep the mood light, Phoenix and Ember both nodded their heads enthusiastically and they set off again, Simon setting a slightly slower pace this time as he didn't want to aggravate the wounds on Ember's back he knew the potion would accelerate the healing process but it would still be a few hours until they healed over completely.

It took longer than Simon expected to get out of the cave the path was quite winding and was only sloping very gently. Simon couldn't help but feel that a lot of time could be saved by building a simple flight of stairs. The group happily exited the cave and stood for a few moments at the exit letting their eyes adjust to the twilight and letting their ears rest after the constant cacophony of the cave. Simon glancing at the setting sum realised how late it was getting, they would probably have to set up camp soon. They continued their journey towards Jubilife city but their pace had decreased to a tired trudge, Simon was keeping his eyes open for a possible camp site.

He noticed a thinning of the trees and decided that they should investigate, they had found the first of the three large reservoirs on the northern side of Jubilife city, Simon sighed this landmark was about a six hour walk from the town. Simon decided that it would be a good idea to camp on the bank of the reservoir, they would have clean water and the nearby forest would have an abundance of firewood. Placing his backpack on the ground he pulled the tent off its straps and began to set it up, "Hey Ember, Phoenix whilst I'm doing this can you two get some firewood" the Pokemon nodded and headed off towards the wood. Simon final wrestled his tent into position "This is what I hate about camping" he muttered under his breath aiming a half-hearted kick at the tent. Pulling a trowel out of side pocket of his bag he set about digging a fire pit. Ember and Phoenix returned whilst he was still digging carrying a good quantity of firewood between them Ember had also managed to find some Chople berries somewhere. Simon laughed as Ember dropped the berries at his feet after dumping the firewood next to his half finished fire pit "Okay it get it." Simon knew Ember lover Chople berries for their spicy flavour. He quickly finished off the fire pit Ember and Phoenix lending a helping paw, walking over to the pile of firewood they had found he picked a few small dry sticks for tinder and placed them in the bottom of the pit, he turned to Ember "ok you know what to do" Ember nodded and shot a small gout of flame into the pit lighting the sticks; Simon waited for the fire to grow slightly then added a lot more fuel. Simon made a quick meal using the remainder of the chicken and the Chople berries Ember had found. The group was just about polishing the meal when Ember's ears pricked up, she had heard something. Simon whirled in a quick circle and spotted the source of the sound a figure was approaching from further around the lake. The figure emerged into the soft firelight it was a fairly young girl, Simon let out a sigh of relief "Hello" he said politely "What can I do for you"

"Hello" the girl replied "My name is Helen I saw your campfire so I came to investigate" she looked down and saw Ember and Phoenix, who was cowering behind Simon "Wow you must be a Pokemon trainer"

Simon nodded laughing "Yes, this is Ember and this is Phoenix, she's a bit shy" he gestured to each of the Pokemon in turn.

Helen nodded "Wow cool a Vulpix!" she knelt down and gently patted Ember on the head "Hey I'm a Pokemon trainer too want to battle"

Simon smiled "well you're asking the wrong person ask the Pokemon"

Helen laughed but obliged "Either of you want to fight my little Skitty?" she asked

Ember shook her head but to Simon's surprise Phoenix accepted the challenge. "You don't need to do this" Simon whispered to Phoenix. She turned to Simon

"Quil ava ava quiiil ava" Simon understood she wanted to prove herself

Simon shook his head sadly "Okay then but please if you get too hurt let me know"

Helen walked away a couple of paces to give their Pokemon room to fight "Go Skitty" she called out tossing her Pokeball up in the air in a flash of bright light a Skitty appeared heckles raised ready for a fight. Phoenix jumped forward without Simon saying anything and took it's own fighting stance.

"Skitty doubleslap!" called out Helen; Skitty ran forward it's hand like tail raised menacingly

"Quick dodge and counterattack with takedown" Simon called out to Phoenix, she dove to a side avoiding Skitty's attack and charged at him a determined look on her face. Phoenix's attack struck home and both Pokemon went flying head over heels, Skitty slammed into the ground hard but got back up; Phoenix landed on her feet and skidded round to face her foe.

"Skitty sing!" Helen called out after a moments pause, Skitty opened it mouth and began to sing a beautiful melody, Simon saw Phoenix's eyelids droop and looked down Ember wasn't faring much better.

"Phoenix quick attack now" Simon called out hoping Phoenix could put a stop to the song before it managed to take full effect. Phoenix charged forward as fast as it could and dealt Skitty another powerful blow but it stayed on it's feet. Skitty charged back with a double edge attack.

"Phoenix you've got to get out of the way!" Simon called out scared for Phoenix's health. She tried to dodge the attack but the song had left her movements slow and awkward; she was unable to get out of the way in time. Skitty connected and sent Phoenix skidding backwards across the ground Simon gritted his teeth as he heard her howls of pain "Phoenix you still want to fight?" he called out. Phoenix answered by struggling to her feet and hitting Skitty with a tackle attack, it wasn't very strong but it knocked Skitty into the lake. Helen was forced to withdraw Skitty since it couldn't swim.

"That was quite unorthodox but good match" she called across to Simon

"Thanks" Simon called back he wasn't really paying attention to her he was more worried about Phoenix who was now laying in a crumpled heap in the middle of the battlefield. He ran over to her a picked her up "You okay?" he asked concerned.

Phoenix opened her eyes "Quil…ava" then she closed them again Simon laughed relived she was just tired.

"Well I guess its time to go to bed" he told Ember "tent I mean" he added jokingly

He opened the tent flap and lovingly placed Phoenix's sleeping form down on the sleeping bag before getting in himself and falling asleep with Ember beside him and Phoenix resting gently on his legs.


	8. Chapter 8

**Wildfire: Chapter 8**

Simon felt an eerie breeze on his face. He slowly opened his eyes; his tent and his Pokemon where gone instead there was an endless expanse of beach. Everything seemed off the sand was pitch black and the sky was completely empty, no sun, no moon, no clouds, no nothing. Simon turned around quickly, the scenery seemed to follow him, no matter where he faced the sea line was in front of him stretching off into infinity. Just to Simon's left was a taller figure he hadn't noticed him until just then, it was his father. "Dad it's good to finally have you back" Simon says hugging him. His dad slowly and sadly shook his head and began slowly moving towards the ocean leaving Simon behind on the beach "No dad! Please don't go! Not again!" Simon cried out as his father reached the water line and began sinking slowly into the sea fading from view. The waves on the shore got bigger and rougher Simon father disappeared below the surface the waves where now huge and a tsunami was heading straight for Simon who was on his knees sobbing.

* * *

Just as the wave hit Simon woke up with a start covered in cold sweat he sat up straight breathing heavily. The sudden movement woke up Ember who "vul"ed tiredly as she stretched. Simon slowly pulled his feet out of the sleeping bag jogging but not waking Phoenix he stumbled out of the tent and flopped onto his back outside by the lake sobbing quietly. Ember knew Simon was distressed she followed him carefully out of the tent "Vul pix pix vuuuul?" she asked worried.

Simon looked up tears still evident on his face he saw Ember and forced a weak smile "no, no I'm fine" he insisted

Ember wasn't fooled she knew Simon too well for that she slowly approached him and licked a few of the tears off his face "vul vul pix" she insisted.

Simon shook his head sadly "It's that damn nightmare again, I thought I had gotten over it but I guess the proximity to water has brought it back with a vengeance." He sighed.

"vul vuuul" Ember said worried, for about a year after his father had died Simon had been plagued by these nightmares and they still came occasionally when he was near large bodies of water or sometimes with no apparent reason.

Simon smiled a proper smile glad that Ember still understood "Go get some sleep I'll be fine" he insisted

"vuuuul pix vul!" Ember scolded jumping onto Simon's stomach

Simon smiled again the sadness however not leaving his eyes "So? You're not sleeping until I do?"

Ember nodded smiling happy that he had understood "Fine then" Simon grumbled gently lifting Ember off his chest he sat up a shifted forward towards the lake. Ember saw that he was shivering in the cold night air so she moved up to him, being a fire type her body could warm him up. Simon noticed something brushing up against him and looked down, Ember was right next to him sitting and leaning against him. Simon gently stroked her head "Thanks" he mumbled.

"vul vuuul piiix vulpix" Ember replied

Simon nodded "Yeah you're right I would do the same for you" he scratched her head and stood up "So shall we head back in"

Ember nodded and gave a curt "vul" before following Simon back towards the tent

"Oh and one more thing" Simon stopped and turned to face Ember "Thank you again, you're always there when I need you"

Ember lowered her head slightly hiding her face then jumped into Simon's arms "vul vuuul pix" she declared

"Huh? What?" Simon hadn't heard this tone of voice before and was at a complete loss as to what Ember had said. Ember thought about it for a few seconds before reaching up and giving Simon a peck on the cheek and jumping back to the floor. Simon reached up and gently touched his cheek; he couldn't help wondering if that was something more than a friendly kiss. He slowly ambled back into the tent in a daze, Ember was waiting patiently inside and Phoenix was still curled up on the bottom of the sleeping bag. Simon lay down slowly and closed his eyes, Ember took her usual place right by his head, Simon lay like that mulling over the possibilities of that kiss; what did it mean? Was it right to be this confused over it? What did Ember say just before the kiss and why was it he hadn't heard that tone before? These questions still bouncing around his head he slowly drifted back off to sleep.

I'm a little ashamed of the dream sequance at the beginning, it's important for character development but I still think i could have done a better job. Also I would like to thank Gaurd of the Twilight for all his reveiws; thanks for the support.


	9. Chapter 9

**Wildfire: Chapter 9**

Simon was woken up by Ember early the next morning, smiling he propped himself up on his elbows "Good morning Ember, is Phoenix up?"

Ember nodded smiling happily "Vul vuuul pix?" she asked a little worry in her tone

Simon smiled and rubbed Ember's head "I'm fine just a little tiered, the nightmare didn't come back" Ember relaxed a little.

Simon got up and packed up all his camp supplies, Phoenix was sitting by the waters edge talking to Ember. Simon finally finished the preparations and was ready to go "Come on guys, it's only about 6 hours to town" Ember and Phoenix both stood up and followed him back towards the path. Simon walked ahead but couldn't help noticing the looks Phoenix kept giving him out of the corner of his eyes. Deciding to find out what was going on he pulled off his pack and squatted down by the roadside "Phoenix what's wrong?" he asked

"quil ava ava quil" Phoenix asked, Simon could sense curiosity and maybe pity in her voice.

"Ember did you tell her about my nightmare?" he asked a little annoyed he would have liked to keep it a secret, but then again Phoenix deserved to know. Ember nodded looking ashamed, Simon comforted her "It doesn't matter, I just would have preferred for her to find out from me" Ember smiled and licked Simon on the hand by way of apology.

"So then" Simon turned to Phoenix "I'm guessing Ember told you I had a nightmare but not much about it"

Phoenix nodded and added "quil ava ava"

Simon guessed "Ah, she told you they where frequent too?"

Phoenix smiled and nodded "quil quil avaa?"

Simon laughed "I know Ember very well that's how" his face turned serious "I guess I should start at the beginning then?" Phoenix nodded "I think it was about three and a bit months after I found Ember here" he rubbed Embers head "my Dad died he went out to sea one day and didn't come back, he was a sailing enthusiast but my mother got seasick and so do I so we stayed home." Simon sniffed a little but continued "We think he drowned at sea but they never found his body; that makes it worse however because I still have a shred of hope that my dad still lives"

"Quil ava quiiil?" Phoenix asked

This was an easy guess for Simon "What does this have to do with my nightmares?" he snorted "They started about a week after my dad vanished, they're always the same and they used to come about once a week however they got better as time went on. Now they come maybe once every two months but they also tend to be more regular when I'm near large bodies of water" Simon sighed "The whole thing left me afraid to go into the water, I'm okay near it but not more than waist deep or on a boat" he laughed sarcastically "I would probably totally freak out if I was pushed into a river"

"Quiiil ava ava quil?" Phoenix asked

Simon had to think about the question for a while before guessing "What was my dad like?" Phoenix nodded and smiled Simon thought about it again for a while before answering "The sad thing it I don't remember much, he was quite tall with brown hair and a beard and dark blue eyes, I know he liked sailing but that's the only thing I know about his hobbies. He was quite that distant but he really loved my mum." Simon thought about it a bit more "His name was Archie" he sighed "but that's all I know, I never got close enough to him and I regret it every day" Simon sighed again and stood up picking up his bag "Now can we get a move on?" his voice wasn't unkind but his desire to leave this conversation behind him was evident.

Ember thought about it for a second and decided to try and lighten the mood she knocked the head off a nearby flower and began to chase it around and pounce on it like a kitten. Simon noticed this and a faint smile spread across his face, the smile grew when he looked down to see Phoenix eyeing Ember like she had gone completely insane. He walked up behind Ember and scooped her up "Thank you" he said hugging Ember to him "Thank you for being here" he reiterated before placing her back down and continuing along the road his mood considerably lifted.

The group made good time and before long Simon notice the tree line around the edge of the reservoir closest to Jubilife city, they where still about a hours walk from town the. The urban skyline was obvious against the natural woodland valley it was built ink; Simon stopped walking and took a deep breath before exhaling "Not long now" he declared happily he turned to face the Pokemon "You guys want to take a quick snack break" he asked. Phoenix and Ember flopped to the ground nodding their heads "I'll take that as a yes" Simon laughed he walked over to the side of the road finding a flat place and set his bag down. Reaching in he pulled out a chocolate bar "Phoenix I hope you like chocolate" he joked as he split the bar in three

"vul pix!" Ember added

Simon laughed "that was unnecessary" he said handing each of them their portion of the bar. They sat and ate in silence, the break was over to quickly for everyone's taste but they knew that they had to get going again if they wanted to reach Jubilife city by lunch time. Simon picked up his pack and began walking away when he was interrupted by a squeal from beyond the trees in the direction of the lake. Simon stopped walking and listened, the squeal came again sounding more pleading and desperate this was shortly followed by several worried and nervous shout and squeals probably by others of the same species. Simon didn't know what Pokemon had a cry like that but it was clear it was in trouble "Looks like we've got ourselves a little detour" he shouted as he crashed off towards the source of the sound.


	10. Chapter 10

**Wildfire: Chapter 10**

Simon crashed through the last few trees separating him from the source of the sound. As he emerged out onto the edge of the lake, the ground dropped steeply into the water several feet below. Looking left and right for whatever was causing the cries he noticed a large pack of young Eevee looking worriedly down into the water below. He ran towards them wondering what was wrong, the Eevee noticed him approaching at speed and scattered fearfully, disappearing into the undergrowth. Simon ran over to where the ground had been gathered and his vision was drawn downwards by a pitiful cry for help from beneath him. Simon carefully lowered himself to the ground and leant out over the steep drop into the reservoir; Ember and Phoenix took hold of one foot each and held on to him scared he would fall into the cold water below. Simon gasped as he saw a small shape just below the surface, a head surfaced momentarily and let out the pitiful cry that had drawn them here in the first place then submerged again. Simon realised what had happened one of the Eevee had slipped and fallen into the water; being so young it couldn't swim. Simon pulled himself away from the edge carefully scared for his own safety and sat up tears in his eyes "That poor thing" he muttered to himself.

"vul pix pix?" Ember asked wondering what had got Simon so distraught

"There's a little Eevee in the water, she'll probably drown if we don't do something" he said tearfully.

Phoenix listened intently and had a flash of insight she ran off back towards the forest and came back with a large twig "Quil ava quiil avaaa" she declared dumping the stick at Simon's feet.

Simon smiled hope flaring up picking up the stick he carefully lowered it down to the Eevee "Grab onto this" he called down to Eevee. Eevee surfaced again but quickly went back under with a garbled cry, Simon laughed chokingly realising that Eevee couldn't possibly grab the stick, she had no opposable thumbs and she couldn't open her mouth without drowning, his hope disappeared as quickly as it had come. Throwing down the stick in despair he looked back down and guessed the Eevee had maybe a minute or two left before it was too tired to keep itself above the surface. Looking around for anything else that could possibly help Eevee he noticed some of the pack it had come from had emerged at least partially and where watching him from the bushes their faces a picture of worry. Giving one last sweep of the area Simon knew there was nothing he could do for Eevee in the time he had; there was only one way to save her. Walking back to the edge of the reservoir he looked down again estimating distances and trying to keep his fear at bay. Tears sprung up again in his eyes there was no way to save Eevee from this angle, it was just impossible. Simon choked up the Eevee was doomed but still he couldn't help but feel a little bit of relief that he didn't have to dive into the water turning away from the Eevee he faced the rest of the pack their eyes still full of concern but more importantly hope. Turning back around Simon decided he would at least try to save Eevee even if it seemed impossible, walking up to the edge again Simon spotted the large stick laying where he had left it "Looks like Phoenix's idea my just save Eevee after all" he muttered to himself as he picked the stick up. Walking over to the edge again he lowered the stick down and began to slowly push the Eevee further from the shore, Ember jumped in front of Simon "Vul pix vuuul!" She demanded angrily.

Simon smiled a little "No I'm helping her. I've got a plan" he had gotten Eevee just far enough away from the shore he dropped the stick and took off his backpack. Taking deep calming breaths he walked backwards giving himself a run-up to the edge of the reservoir, reaching the tree line he turned to face the water in front of him "Well I guess my therapist was right" he laughed to himself trying to keep calm "I should attack this fear head on". He began running at the water, as the edge approached him and the water spread to fill most of his vision he found himself slowing down he just couldn't bring himself to leap into the water. Sighing he stood at the waters edge, "No! There must be a way to do this" he looked around and decided quickly, he only had maybe a minute tops to save Eevee "Phoenix, Ember come over here please" he asked nicely but his tone bared no argument.

Phoenix and Ember ran over to Simon understanding time was of the essence "Quil?" Phoenix asked

Simon smiled tears in his eyes "Push me in, I can't jump I'm too scared, so push me"

"Vul!" Ember exclaimed "vul pix vuuuul pix!"

Simon looked at Ember "Don't worry I can swim" he lied "Now please do it"

Ember and Phoenix looked at each other then into Simon's eyes they nodded liking this no more than Simon did they began backing off to get their run up. Reaching the edge of the clearing they turned to face Simon who had turned away to hide his fear "Vul?" Ember called

"Yes now!" Simon called back, Ember and Phoenix charged at Simon and hit him in the back at the moment of impact he called out to them "Remember I love you both" as he sailed through the air Simon twisted his body and scooped up Eevee in his arms and catapulted her back towards the shore. Simon hit the water with a huge splash and he remained on the surface just long enough to see the Eevee land safely on the shore before going under. Simon felt his feet hit the bottom of the pool he kicked off the bottom and shot back towards the surface however he came just short and was only able to grab a quick breath before disappearing under the surface.

On the shore the Eevee had emerged completely and were crowding around the Eevee that Simon had rescued who was lying on the floor soaked and exhausted. Ember and Phoenix however stood together on the edge of the reservoir looking out for some sign that Simon had resurfaced, he had said he could swim so why hadn't he come up yet? Minutes passed and some of the Eevee joined them in their silent vigil for Simon. Simon was underwater he had been able to resurface a few times to get air but his strength was rapidly fading and each time he had to come up for air quicker.

Ember perked up, she noticed something emerging from the water she stared hard at the dark shape in the middle of the lake, it was moving fast whatever it was. However her hope soon vanished; the shape was too big to be Simon in fact it looked more like a boat it was speeding across the lake towing a man shaped silhouette behind it, this interested Ember but her focus was on finding Simon not whatever it was that boat was doing on the lake. More time passed and more Eevee joined the watch Phoenix and Ember began to loose hope.

Simon didn't have the strength to resurface again and the urge to breathe was almost overwhelming, finally he just had to breathe despite the fact he was underwater. His mouth opened as the last few precious bubbles of air escaped his lungs water rushed in Simon's world began spinning and turning dark. As his consciousness faded a strange warm feeling seemed to radiate from the core of his being, it spread throughout his body as his conscious mind faded. Finally to Simon it all went black; however his body continued to move his eyes shot open once more this time they where red orbs, the water around his body began to bubble and evaporate as he rapidly heated up. Great flaming wings sprouted from Simon's back and he shot out of the water leaving a trail of steam in his wake, he flew into the air and sailed over the water. Now that he was out of mortal danger the power quickly receded the wings got smaller then vanished altogether his eyes slowly closed and his body landed on the gentle sandy beach on the far side of the beach. He hit the ground quit hard but the sand absorbed the worst of the impact as he came to rest leaving a groove in the sand where he had slid up the beach, his body had been so hot that the beginning of the groove had been fused into glass.

Simon's eyes slowly flitted open to the familiar feeling of Ember licking his face "It's too early to get up" he mumbled tiredly but Ember was persistent and Simon slowly sat up and looked around. "What happened where am I?" he asked "The last thing I remember is the cold water…" he slowly trailed off shivering at the memory. Looking himself over quickly he looked around him, he was on a large beach at the end of an impact groove the only other people on the beach where Ember, Phoenix and the pack of Eevee. "Is Eevee okay?" he asked suddenly thinking of the little Pokemon he had rescued.

Ember smiled and nodded "Vul pix vuuul" she said proudly

Simon smiled happily "I can't take all the credit, you guys helped" he ruffled their heads "So how did I get out of the lake?" he asked seriously. Ember and Phoenix along with all the Eevee had a look of shock plastered on their faces "What?" Simon asked nervously.

Ember walked up "vul pix vul vul pix vuuuul piiiix vul piiiix vuul pix pix vuuuul" she explained carefully

Simon smiled sadly "Sorry I don't know what you just said"

"quiiil" Phoenix said

Smiled laughed "That I understood" but he had to double check "Don't worry?"

Phoenix laughed and nodded. Simon pushed himself to his feet a little shakily "Can I go see the Eevee I saved please?"

All the Pokemon nodded Simon could see respect and fear in the Eevee's eyes and he was sure he had seen some fear in Ember and Phoenix's eyes. Sighing to himself and wondering what could have happened to make Ember and Phoenix fear him he followed the group of Pokemon back up the beach.


	11. Chapter 11

**Wildfire: Chapter 11**

Simon followed the group of Pokemon occasionally glancing suspiciously over his shoulder at the reservoir as if afraid it would somehow sneak up on him. It was only a shot walk back to the raised ledge where this had all started. The Eevee was lying on the floor where she had landed still waterlogged and apparently unconscious; Simon leant down and gave her a quick check up "She'll be fine from what I can tell" he announced cheerily "She just needs to rest and dry off"

"Vul piiix vul" Ember spoke out walking closer to the Eevee

Simon nodded and laughed "Okay you can dry her off but be careful she's smaller than me and covered in fur"

Ember nodded her head and with practiced ease let loose a tiny jet of flame, not nearly enough cause any serious burn. She aimed it just about Eevee and passed it back a forward across her body heating the air surrounding her and evaporating all the water off her, this took about five minutes because Eevee's fur was harder to dry than human skin. When Ember finally stepped back Eevee was a lot drier, there was still some wet fur on her belly as she had been lying on it but at least it was an improvement "Thanks Ember, I suppose you should do me to as I've been in the lake" Simon suddenly realised that he was as dry as a bone "Well I suppose you did it earlier" he said rubbing Ember on the head. Ember didn't have the heart to tell Simon otherwise she knew he was confused about what had happened already. Simon walked over to his backpack and pulled out an Oran berry "This should help" he muttered to himself as he shouldered his bag and turned back to the Eevee leaning down he gently shook her awake. Eevee woke with a start, she obviously had no idea where she was Simon gently restrained her to prevent her from doing something stupid whilst she was still so weak "Shhh, calm down. I'm a friend" Eevee was still a little panicked and looked around for the rest of her pack; finally she spotted them behind Simon locking eyes with the pack leader she notice him giving a slight nod of approval, clearly this human could be trusted. Eevee relaxed and noticed Simon was holding something in his hand, Simon realised Eevee had calmed down and released his hold, "Here eat this it will help you feel better" he coaxed placing the Oran berry on the floor just in front of Eevee. Eevee sniffed the berry timidly then recognising the scent quickly wolfed it down, her ears pricked up as Simon began laughing "I guess you're hungry huh?" he tussled Eevee's head and reached back into his pack drawing out two more Oran berries "Here you go" he placed the berries on the ground then straightened up. "Ember, Phoenix shall we get going." He laughed "I'm sure you two want some proper food not the garbage I cook"

"vul" Ember laughed as she bounded over to Simon

Simon laughed harder and playfully cuffed Ember's head "You're not supposed to agree!"

Eevee finished eating the berries and looked up just in time to Simon, Ember and Phoenix leaving the clearing, she had some questions to ask her pack about these people.

Simon's group was walking towards town and the woods on either side where beginning to thin out "I can't wait to see the biggest city in Sinnoh!" Simon exclaimed happily "I bet there'll be all sorts of cool shops and places to visit"

"quiil ava?" Phoenix asked

Simon smiled and suppressed his laugh "Yes and restaurants" he agreed. Simon was pleased with Phoenix's progress she had come out of her shell a lot since he had rescued her, sighing a little he wondered how she would cope with all the people in a big city; he hoped he wouldn't be forced to keep her in her ball all the time.

Ember picked up on Simon's sigh "vuuul pix?" she asked

"Oh" Simon looked at Ember "It's nothing"

"vul vul pix" Ember scolded

Simon laughed despite himself "You know me too well" Ember continued to stare at him "Fine!" he conceded "I'm a little worried that Phoenix" he stroked Phoenix's head reassuringly "won't be able to cope with all the people in the big city"

"Quil ava quil?" Phoenix asked her eyes widening with fear

Simon nodded solemnly "yes lots of people, hundreds possibly thousands"

Phoenix froze in her tracks "Quil ava ava Quiiiil ava!" she demanded

Simon shook his head "There's no way round Jubilife it's grown to fill the valley side to side"

Phoenix looked petrified "quiiil" she said worried

Simon smiled reassuringly and leant down to look Phoenix in the eyes "Listen, I will protect you with my life if necessary. I promise nothing will happen to you"

Phoenix relaxed visibly "avaa" she said

"Don't mention it" Simon said "that promise goes for all my Pokemon present and future"

The little group began moving again but Ember's ear perked up "vul pix piiix" she declared

"Where?" Simon asked. Ember pointed over at the now thin layer of trees bordering the path "What do you think it was?" Simon asked.

Ember flicked her tails in her version of a shrug and slowly began advancing on the spot she had heard a noise from. As she pushed her nose through the bush Simon heard her surprised "vul!"

"What is it?" Simon called out a little scared for Ember's safety. Ember pulled her head out of the bush and turned to face Simon. He noticed an amused grin on her face "Well?" he asked "What was it"

"piix" Ember said simply as Eevee emerged from the bushes

"Eevee!" Simon called out surprised "Why did you follow me?"

Eevee turned and held a quick conversation with Ember who then began explaining it. "vul vuuul piix pix vul piiix vuuul pix vul" Simon looked at Ember who seemed to look a little bemused then at Eevee who was staring intently at the ground obviously tying to avoid eye contact and trying to hide her face.

"So," Simon began "let me get this straight. Eevee heard what happened from her pack and now she…" he trailed off "what was the last bit?"

"vuuul pix vul" Ember repeated obviously finding something very amusing

"She somethings me?" Simon said "I still don't understand the middle bit"

Phoenix tried to help "Quil avaa quiil"

Simon shook his head "Nope sorry"

Ember thought for a second "vuuul piix vul?" she tried

"Ah" Simon said "She likes me, why didn't you just say so" Ember sighed but decided to let it go. Simon walked over to Eevee who seemed to be trying to disappear into the ground "I assume this means you want to travel with me?" he asked kindly.

"veeee!" Eevee exclaimed jumping for joy

Simon laughed at her enthusiasm "Okay then here you go" he placed a pokeball on the ground and watched as Eevee happily tapped the middle button and disappeared in a soft red glow. Simon smiled and picked the pokeball up again releasing Eevee in a bright flash of light. "Welcome to the team Eevee!" he laughed, Ember and Phoenix adding their own congratulations "Well I suppose now you're on the team you're going to need a name" Eevee nodded her head in agreement "How about Nuri?"

"Veee eeeev" Nuri shouted

"Okay you like it but next time not so loud" Simon laughed "Oh, and next time don't bother getting Ember to translate unless I can't understand you the first time" he smiled "I should be able to tell what you're saying most of the time anyway"

The now slightly larger group set off towards the city it's skyline now looming over them, they where no more than half an hour's walk away and the Pokemon could already smell the menagerie of smells wafting from the city, some pleasant others foul. "Not long now" Simon declared "We should be there in time for dinner!"

* * *

For those who don't know and who care about the meanings of names Nuri means "Flaming Lights" in arabic. I think you can guess what Nuri will evolve into by now


	12. Chapter 12

**Wildfire: chapter 12**

The more observant of you will notice i have lowered my rating on this story: this is just temporary because it won't have much mature content for a while yet so i decided to lower the rating for now.

* * *

Simon let out a relived sigh as the archway that declared the border of Jubilife city loomed ahead "We're finally here" he laughed happily gently rubbing the back of Ember's head. Ember and Phoenix giggled a little understanding how much they had been sidetracked but Nuri hadn't been with them earlier and just gave them an inquisitive glance. Simon noticed this out of the corner of his eyes and squatted down "I've been sidetracked a lot" he explained laughing "Of course every time I have it's got me a new friend so I'm not complaining" he laughed and stood up but not before gently patting Nuri on the head. Fairly soon the path beneath their feet changed from dirt to the cobblestones Jubilife was paved with, realising they only had at most another minute or two before they actually entered the city Simon halted and squatted down again "Nuri, Phoenix" he put his hands on their heads "I know you're scared, but just stay close to me and I'll protect you. Okay?"

Phoenix nodded "Quil ava avvva" she said

Simon smiled broadly "Thank you, I won't let you down" he gave Phoenix a quick pat on the head and a scratch behind her ear before turning his attention wholly to Nuri "What about you?" he asked worried "Are you up to this?"

Nuri bowed her head for a bit but when she raised it again she looked Simon in the eyes "veee eeev eee" she said happily giving Simon a lick on the cheek

Simon smiled and tousled Nuri's head hiding his annoyance; he couldn't understand Nuri as well as Phoenix and Ember, but he reasoned he had only just really met her and she wasn't a fire type. Finally turning to Ember he gave her a quick pat on the head, he knew she was fine with the city but he didn't want her to feel left out. The group continued towards the city Phoenix and Nuri both walking with an air of confidence; however Simon had a sneaking suspicion that this was just a show to hide their nervousness.

Simon passed through the arch smiling with Ember wagging her tails happily as she walked along beside him, Phoenix and Nuri had lost their confident stride at their first look at the busy streets, they had no idea that this many people even existed, let alone in one place! Simon looked down and saw them cowering "Guys come on, no one will hurt you" Phoenix and Nuri relaxed a little but remained steadfastly behind his legs. Simon made his way to the Pokemon centre fairly quickly, he wanted to triple check Phoenix and Nuri were fine plus they had some decisions to make about their stay here. As they entered the Pokemon centre Nuri and Phoenix visibly relaxed, the centre was much busier than Simon's local one but compared to the streets outside was completely deserted, Simon went and claimed a small table in the corner. Ember and Phoenix both jumped up onto the seats and Nuri followed after realising that she was allowed up on the seat herself "Okay you guys hold the table, I'll go get some lunch" Simon said as he pulled off his backpack and wandered off towards the main desk. Simon returned after ordering hot dogs all round smiling to himself as he saw all the Pokemon holding an animated conversation, he was too far away to tell what it was about but they all seemed to agree on whatever it was. Phoenix noticed him approaching and the table quickly fell silent, Simon looked at everyone "Don't let me interrupt, please by all means continue your conversation I won't feel left out" he smiled but none of the Pokemon began the conversation again. Luckily the slightly awkward silence was broken by Nurse Joy arriving with their meal smiling she placed the plates down "There you go" she said

"Thanks" Simon smiled and inclined his head slightly Ember copied his movement and everyone else said thanks too in their own way. Nurse Joy did a small curtsey before heading back to her desk leaving the group to tuck in. Simon decided to field his idea over lunch "Hey" he said "I've been thinking, since I have some spare change do you guys want to stay in a hotel rather than a Pokemon centre for our visit"

This question was met with an enthusiastic response by everyone so Simon promised they could get checked in after lunch assuming they could find the hotel of course. They were just polishing off the meal when a teenage girl walked over to the table; she had long flowing blonde hair and sparkling green eyes, she was wearing a simple black top and mini-skirt. She had the air of a spoiled only child about her and the diamond necklace around her neck made it clear she usually got what she wanted "Hello" she said with a wave as she approached the table. She cast her eyes over Ember, Phoenix and Nuri then let her gaze wander over to Simon where it lingered "My name is Holly" she introduced herself smiling broadly

Simon grinned "Hello. I'm Simon and these are Ember Phoenix and Nuri" he pointed to each of them in turn.

Holly smiled and waved to the Pokemon, Ember responded by waving her tails but both Phoenix and Nuri shied away slightly "Don't worry about her" Simon said kindly "She won't hurt you I'm sure of it" he reached across the table and scratched them both behind their ears before turning to Holly "I'm sorry they're still a bit shy around others"

Holly was still smiling however "Don't worry about it" she said

Simon smiled back "Well it was nice meeting you, I should get going if I want to find a hotel with any rooms left" he shouldered his bag and made to get up

"Wait" Holly said quickly blushing slightly she asked "Can I meet you again later"

Simon glanced down at Ember then took a quick look at the others "Not tonight" he replied "My friends here obviously need a bath" he laughed at the horrified look Ember gave him and tousled her hair "I know you like it really" he joked

"vul vuuuul pix vul!" Ember shot back

Simon just laughed "I'd like to see you try" he turned back to Holly "Sorry"

Holly was a little taken aback that Simon would turn her down to bathe his Pokemon "How about tomorrow?" she asked

Simon smiled "I don't think I'm doing anything then; let me check" he bent down to Ember's level "Hey any of you guys want to do anything tomorrow night or am we free to meet up with Holly"

Holly stood her mouth slightly agape realising that if the Pokemon said no he would actually go with them, after a brief exchange Simon stood up, Holly had regained a little of her composure since then and awaited his answer "Yeah that should be fine, I'll meet you here at about six-ish" he smiled broadly and Holly blushed slightly

"Yeah that would be great" she replied

Simon smiled again "Okay see you there then" he said casually before walking out of the centre his small group following close behind him.

Holly sat down at the table Simon had just departed thinking to herself she was sure she had seen jealousy in the Pokemons' eyes when Simon had accepted their 'date' but she wasn't about to let some stupid little animals stand between her and her latest object of affection, one way or another Simon would fall for her. Smiling to herself she stood up and headed back to her large house on the wealthy side of town.


	13. Chapter 13

**Wildfire: Chapter 13**

The small group walked down the main street keeping their eyes peeled for a likely hotel they could stay in. Unnoticed by them they where being observed from a small side alley, the shadowy figure smirked as Simon passed and pulled a small intercom from the breast pocket of his jacket "Hey this is field agent 5463" he said "Yeah, I've found one" he listened for a while "It's an Eevee, the guys also got two others but they are worthless" he smirked again "yes…yes understood" he flicked off the radio and disappeared back into the shadows in the alley. Simon finally spotted a good looking hotel, it wasn't really fancy but it was definitely better than the Pokemon centre rooms "What do you guys think?" he asked without turning around. Smiling at the chorus of agreement they headed towards the entrance; it wasn't over the top like most of the hotels they had seen it was simply large glass double doors bordered with two small potted shrubs. Simon glanced around the lobby there where people everywhere, he sighed they probably no spare rooms, he walked over to the teak check in desk, a cheery man in his late forties greeted Simon "Do you have any rooms free?" Simon asked already preparing for a no

The man smiled and looked down at a small black booklet "Yes we have four rooms free" he looked up "would you like one of them?"

Simon quickly wiped the shock off his face "Yes please" he thought a bit "if possible one with an en-suite please" he shot a look down at Ember who stuck her tongue out

"Of course, of course" the man said writing something down in his book "can I have your pokedex please?"

Simon smiled "of course" he reached into his bag and pulled out the pokedex

"Thank you" the man smiled "how long will you be staying?"

"Just two days, unless I find something interesting to occupy my time" Simon laughed

The man smiled politely "Here's your pokedex back"

"Thank you" Simon smiled and walked away from the desk. He walked over to a small lounge area in a corner and sat on one of the black leather couches, Ember jumped right onto his lap and curled up whilst Nuri and Phoenix climbed up on either side of him. "So girls?" Simon started "what shall we do for the rest of the day"

"quil ava quiil ava" Phoenix asked

Simon scratched her head "No I don't think we should use our mini-vacation time to train, we can do that on the road if you want"

"Vul piiix vuuul?" Ember spoke up

Simon laughed and cuffed Ember on the head lightly "I do not need cooking lessons!" he said "Nuri, what do you think?"

Nuri blushed a little at the attention "eee veee eev" she suggested softly

Simon smiled "I'm game for just relaxing, how about you two?"

A laugh cut off the response from Ember and Phoenix "Can't find anything to do in the city huh?" a man came and sat down on the couch opposite Simon a massive Nidoqueen looming behind him "I can tell you where you can go have some fun"

Simon smiled; the man appeared to be in his late twenties or possibly early thirties he had short cut blonde hair and brown eyes "Ok then" Simon said "Where is this place?"

"Well" the man continued "there are only two places in town you can go to battle; firstly there is the radio station. They hold a daily Pokemon battle competition"

Simon smiled "Sounds good but I'm not in their league yet, what's the second place?"

"There are some massive warehouses on the east side of town" the man explained "they used to be a Devon Co. distribution centre but it was closed down. The council converted them into Pokemon arenas and nowadays local people and visiting trainers go there for casual matches"

Simon nodded "Sounds good" he turned to the Pokemon "You guys want to battle?" After receiving a confirmation Simon turned back to the man "How do I get there?"

The man laughed "That's the hard part, it will take you ages to get there by following the roads, but you can cut a good ten or twenty minutes off the journey time if you take short cuts down side alleys"

"Ok then" Simon smiled and pushed himself to his feet, Ember jumping gracefully out of his lap "Thanks for the info.. what was your name?"

"Dan" Dan replied smiling "Just call me Dan"

"Okay then" Simon smiled again "Thanks Dan"

Simon's group headed out back onto the crowded streets with their destination firmly in mind.


	14. Chapter 14

**Wildfire: Chapter 14**

Hey guys sorry for the pause but i've been on holiday: so anyway here is the next chapter.

* * *

Simon continued down the main street a little while before turning down a small side street. Pausing he turned around and squatted down "So, do you guys want to take the short route or the long way round?"

Ember smiled and darted further down the street before heading back to Simon "vul vuul pix"

"Ok then, that's one vote for short" Simon smiled and turned his attention to Nuri and Phoenix

"Quil quiil ava" Phoenix said

"eev veeee" Nuri added agreeing wholeheartedly

Simon stood up "Short way it is" he continued down the street whistling happily to himself. The field agent couldn't believe his luck; the mark was just walking into his territory, normally he would have to lure them in at great personal risk. Simon got a little nervous as the side street got narrower but shook it off as mere paranoia and continued. The group didn't get much further as a large figure blocked their path; he was a large muscular man with extremely short brown hair and cold blue eyes. He was wearing jeans with a dark blue T-shirt with an odd symbol that Simon didn't recognise on it his attire was completed by a black leather biker jacket. He smiled as Simon approached, and a thought ran through his head: easiest job ever.

"Excuse me" Simon asked politely trying to avoid any conflict

The man scoffed and pushed Simon back roughly, Simon stumbled but stayed on his feet Ember, Phoenix and Nuri jumped in front of Simon taking up fighting stances. The man laughed "Tell you what wimp I won't hurt you or your pathetic excuses for Pokemon if you just hand over that Eevee" he pointed at Nuri and laughed again. Nuri cowered and ran behind Simon for protection. Simon knelt down and placed a hand on Nuri's head comfortingly "Over my dead body!" he spat back at the man

The man smirked "So this one's got courage, well if you want to die I will be happy to oblige" he tossed two Pokeballs into the air and in a flash of light two Pokemon materialised, an Arbok and Ariados both bristling with aggression and tensed up for the fight. "Get the Eevee and dispose of the others" the man snapped Ariados gave a small smirk and shot a string of web at Nuri catching her hind leg and began reeling her in like an angler. Simon tried to grasp Nuri but he was too slow and his hand passed through the air that Nuri had occupied mere seconds before. Meanwhile the Arbok gave a hiss and dove at Phoenix its maw open wide, Phoenix dove backwards and Ember shot a stream of fire into the side of the Arbok's head Arbok reeled in pain its large body thrashing about Ember and Phoenix were too occupied dodging Arbok to notice the Ariados deposit Nuri into the trainers arms and join the fight climbing up a wall and shooting several globs of sticky web at the floor. Ember was the fist to step in one of the globs of web with Phoenix falling into the same trap seconds later, the pair were now stuck in place with an Ariados and a very angry Arbok advancing on them. Simon watched on in horror, he felt a familiar heat rising within him almost begging for release Simon remembered the unconsciousness that came with embracing this strange feeling; he needed all his focus to save his friends this would have to wait. He focused and forced the power back down, feeling in recede he jumped into the fray and dealt a quick punch to the Arbok's head. The punch wasn't enough to hurt the tough snake Pokemon but it was enough to distract it; Arbok looked up and reared back as it aimed an attack for Simon. The Arbok dove and Simon dropped down hoping to avoid the venom coated fangs, he felt a sudden blast of heat and heard a crash of a body hitting the pavement, hard. He lifted his head and spotted Ember looking very smug, he laughed Ember must have hit the Arbok whilst it's back was turned "Thanks buddy" Simon called out "But it's not over yet"

Nuri was still struggling in the mans arms and she had finally found a little leeway, she managed to twist her body and clamp her small jaws down on the mans arm. He howled in pain and dropped Nuri who ran back towards Simon. Simon looked up at the sound of the man's cry and couldn't help but smile as he saw Nuri escape, however his joy was short-lived. The man smirked and withdrew his Ariados "Stop right there" he smirked as he pulled a Magnum out of his inner pocket, he pointed the gleaming silver muzzle at Simon "I will ask you one more time. Hand over the Eevee!"

Simon cringed at the sight of the gun "Sorry girls, it's just too dangerous for you now" he said softly as he pulled out their pokeballs. He withdrew Ember and Phoenix trying to ignore the look of shock and betrayal on their faces, he was doing this for them, as he held up Nuri's ball he heard a sharp crack as the man fired his gun

"Not so fast kiddie" the man smirked and pointed the gun squarely at Simon's chest "the next one is going to kill you."  
Simon stood there, the man had destroyed Nuri's pokeball, he couldn't protect her by withdrawing her, there was only one thing left to try. Simon ran forward towards the crook relying on the element of surprise, perhaps if he got close enough he could disarm the man. The man was surprised by Simon's actions but took a shot, the bullet grazed Simon's arm leaving a bloody line; the man fired again and this bullet hit its mark. Simon body crumpled on the floor and blood seeped from the wound in his chest, the man smiled victoriously "That move took guts kid. I admire that, but ultimately I won" he smiled again and began advancing on Nuri "vee eeeev vee!" she called out pitifully. Simon was rapidly loosing consciousness but the message from Nuri got across loud and clear, but you promised!, Simon grunted and forced himself to his feet ignoring the sharp pain from his abdomen as he stood up, he finally managed to get himself onto his feet and was standing shakily, coughing up a little blood he began advancing on the man slowly with unsteady steps. The crook spun around at the sound of the cough and his eyes widened with fear as he saw Simon on his feet and moving towards him. He hastily pulled out his gun and squeezed off three more shots, two missed entirely pinging harmlessly off the alley walls, but the third impacted with Simon's leg spinning him round and throwing him to the floor again. Simon groaned, his body was screaming in protest but he hauled himself to his feet again calling on every last ounce of energy in his body. The man began backing off as Simon rose yet again blood pouring from the two massive wounds in his leg and chest and a small trickle dripping from the small graze in his arm, "Wh..what are you?" the man demanded before turning and running, pausing only to fire off one more shot back down the alley. The last shot hit Simon's chest too and Simon stumbled backwards into the wall of the alleyway and slid down it onto the floor a small smile on his face "see I always keep my promises" Simon said softly before slipping into the welcoming darkness. With the resistance gone the warmth flooded Simon's body the power invigorating his limbs and Simon's eyes snapped open once again this time however they were bloods red orbs.


	15. Chapter 15

**Wildfire: Chapter 15**

Simon's body slowly rose to it's feet the large red pool of blood on the floor bubbling and boiling. He pushed off the fall and stood up, he started moving back towards the main street and the Pokemon Centre; just as his body started to gain speed their was a noise from behind him in the alley "vee eeev"; Nuri was following Simon carefully wondering what was happening. Simon's conscious mind came too slightly, an intense burning sensation covered his entire body; he was on fire? But there was no pain, Nuri called out again. Simon's body continued walking towards the road; No! Simon's mind called out, get Nuri! his body slowed down and turned; the last thing Simon saw before sinking back into unconsciousness was Nuri nestled gently in his arms. Simon's body started walking again keeping a gentle hold on Nuri as it gathered speed, he was running, then sprinting his legs moving at incredible speeds despite the horrible wounds he had suffered, as he came back onto the main street he sprinted down the pavement, head lowered, barging past people. The large white walls of the Pokemon centre came into view and Simon put on a great burst of speed his legs became blurs as he shot down the last section of street leaving a trail of heat distortion both from the friction and his own body heat, he reached the main doors and skidded into the main lobby before the power receded totally. His legs no longer invigorated by the strange force; gave way but his body continued forward spurred by the momentum of his run he managed to turn his body so he didn't land on Nuri, even unconscious Simon wouldn't let anything happen too her but his body still skidded across the white and black tiled floor leaving a long red skid mark before crashing to a stop when he impacted the main desk, everyone in the room had turned to watch this spectacle and Nurse Joy and Chansey came running to transport Simon to one of their emergency wards.

* * *

Simon groaned and slowly opened his eyes "Wah, Where am I?" he mumbled; the last thing he remembered was holding Nuri and a strange burning sensation "Was I on fire?" he mused quietly. He shifted slightly to get comfortable and a searing pain assaulted his nerves; he screamed out in pain and lay as still as he could. The noise woke up his Pokemon who were sleeping outside the room Ember jumped up and pulled the door handle down with her paws; the door swung open and Ember shot in a worried look on her face that quickly changed to a look of happiness when she spotted Simon on the bed "Piiiiix vul pixx!" Ember called joyously as she jumped up onto his bed taking care to avoid landing on his body.

"Hey girl" Simon said happily "They wouldn't let you into my room huh?"

Ember's face flashed with anger briefly "Quiiil ava quiil ava" Phoenix said from the floor

Simon smiled a little "Hehe, yeah Ember has slept in my bed and been by my side for as long as I've had her. I hope you didn't hurt them too much" he added jokingly

"veee eeeev eeev veee eeev" Nuri said sadly from the floor

"I promised I would protect you with my life and I meant it" Simon said seriously "and never say you aren't worth it, because you guys are all everything to me" he smiled and made to lean down to stroke Nuri but as he moved his body exploded with pain, he gave a weak gurgle and fell back onto the bed, unconscious. Ember padded gently up Simon's body and gently licked his head giving a silent prayer to Arceus then jumped down and left the room before curling up and trying to sleep, maybe Simon would talk more the next morning.

* * *

Simon slowly opened his eyes, his head was swimming. He moved his arms and tried to push himself up so he could get a good look at what damage had been done to him but the moment he began moving an intense pain shot through his abdomen he cried out and flopped back onto the bed panting "Okay bad idea" he sighed and decided to just try and relax. His relaxation was broken about ten minutes later when a Nurse Joy entered his room and approached the bed, when she saw his eyes were open she gave a broad smile "So we're awake today"

"Today?" Simon gave a little frown "How long was I out for?"

"You've been unconscious for a full day" Nurse Joy informed him unaware of his brief waking the previous night "I must admit I expected you to be out for much longer but your body seems to heal exceptionally quickly"

Simon gave a weak smile "So what's wrong with me?" he asked

Nurse Joy's face became serious "Well you had three major bullet wounds; one on your left leg and two on your chest; these wound were however cauterized when you arrived," Simon's smile reappeared at this statement; he bet the Ember had done that "one large graze on your right arm that we had to stitch up, the stitches on your left arm had opened slightly and had to be restitched, you've lost a lot of blood, in fact if your wounds hadn't been cauterized you would have defiantly bled out before we could get to you" Simon's face broke into another smile and he made a mental note to thank Ember for all of this "you received some impact trauma to your head that may have caused some minor problems but we don't I don't think there will be any lasting problems, finally you have some minor first degree burns to your back but we can treat those easily with burn heal."

"So how long will I be in here for then?" Simon asked

"Hmmm" Nurse Joy thought about it for a second and checked Simon's chart "You should be bedridden for about a week but you should take it easy for about a month or two; and it's quite probable you will have some permanent scarring from the entry wounds."

Simon put on a brave smile "Oh well, at least it could be worse"

Nurse Joy gave a small smile "I know it seems bad but you're right it could be a lot worse; most of the people who get into a fight with team aqua don't come out of it alive"

"Team aqua?" Simon asked his voice weaker than before, this conversation had taken a lot of his energy

Nurse Joy sighed "I'll explain later, right now you need some rest"

Simon nodded "Okay then; just one more thing"

Nurse Joy smiled "What is it?"

"Can you let my Pokemon stay in the room with me?" Simon asked

Nurse Joy nodded "You got it; now get some rest and I'll talk to you tomorrow"

Simon gave one last smile then closed his eyes to try and get the rest he needed; his smile grew slightly as he heard Nurse Joy letting his Pokemon in but warning them to let him rest.

* * *

Later that day whilst Simon was still asleep in the Pokemon Centre's ward. Holly arrived at the park at 6o'clock just as she had agreed with Simon; by half past she was fuming "I bet that man blew me off for his Pokemon again; those stupid animals keep standing between me and my man" she sighed "I'll find out were he is then I will see what could possibly be more important than a date with me."


	16. Chapter 16

**Wildfire: Chapter 16**

Simon slowly returned to consciousness he was aware of something else breathing close to him; he opened his eyes a fraction and saw Ember lying on his pillow just inches from his face. He smiled; a familiar weight on his legs told him Phoenix had taken up her spot at the foot of his bed Simon twisted his head looking for Nuri he was worried about her she seemed to be blaming herself for his injuries and he doubted his speech last time had done anything to change that he let out a sigh of relief when he spotted Nuri curled up in a little ball on the chair next to his bed.

Simon reached out and gently stroked Ember's head "Hey girl wake up"

Ember opened one eye and when she saw Simon was awake she sprung up licking his face "vuuuul piiix vuuuuul" she said happily

Simon smiled "Nah I'll be fine, though I think I'll have some new scars joining the ones from when I found you" he scratched her head

Ember sat down on her haunches "vuuul pix vuuuuul piiix vuuuuuuuuul"

Simon smiled "I won't promise I won't do that again" he stroked her head lovingly "If anyone threatens you guys again I would probably do the same thing all over again; but I will be careful"

"vuul pix vuuuul piiix" Ember said rubbing her head against Simon's

Simon gave a small smile "I feel the same way" he assured her "I don't know what I'd do without you"

Phoenix lifted her head as she had heard Ember and Simon conversing "Quiiil avaaa quiil" she spoke up as she carefully padded up the bed

Simon smiled "That's exactly what Ember asked" he chuckled a little but winced as laughing caused a sharp pain to flare up in his chest "Well I'll live, but we could be here for a while"

Phoenix nodded "Quill avaa quiiil ava quil"

"No problem I bet Ember was driving you crazy sitting outside" Ember shot him a dirty look and Simon laugh wincing as the sharp pain returned "So should we wake Nuri"

"Quiiil avaa quiil" Phoenix said sadly

"Vuuuuul pix" Ember agreed nodding slowly

"I knew she was taking it badly; can you two talk to her or should I?" Simon asked

"Vuul" Ember said with Phoenix agreeing

"Ok then I'll talk to her but you two have to wake her" he smiled again "I'm afraid I'm a little wounded"

Ember nodded and jumped over to the chair Nuri was sitting in, she nudged her sleeping form gently with her nose "vuuul vuuul" she called softly

The door to Simon's ward flew open Ember and Phoenix both jumped and whipped round to face the door, flames flared in Embers' mouth but she let the attack dissipate when she recognised the figure; Holly ran in and up to Simon's bed "What happened? Who did this to you?" she demanded in a loud voice; at her loud questioning Nuri began to stir

Simon winced as her loud voice caused his headache to resurface "Keep it down a little please, Nuri is asleep and I've got a splitting headache"

"Oh sorry" Holly dropped her voice "So what happened and who did this?" she asked again a tinge of annoyance entering her voice

"I was shot by some guy who tried to steal Nuri" Simon said bluntly

"Vuuul piix vuul!" Ember spoke up

"I am not selling myself short Ember" Simon smiled reassuringly

"vul piiix vuuul" Ember insisted

Simon resisted a laugh "It doesn't matter exactly how many times I got shot all that matters is that someone threatened Nuri and I defended her"

"You got shot defending that pile of fluff" Holly practically shrieked

Simon clutched at his head whimpering as the sudden movement aggravated the wound on his left arm "vuuuuul piix vul" Ember demanded angrily shooting Holly a nasty look

"I have no idea what your saying" Holly said simply before dismissing Ember and turning back to Simon "Why would you risk your life for some stupid animal" she spat out the last word

"My Pokemon are my life and I would gladly defend them with my life if necessary" Simon responded sharply

Holly stalked over to Nuri's curled up form "So it's all you fault that my man is injured you stupid little thing" he said vehemently

"I'm not your man!" Simon called out his eyes flashing red

"vuuul piiix vuuul!" Ember called out at the same time glaring daggers at Holly

Holly turned to Simon flicking her hair and gazing at him seductively "Are you sure you don't want to be my man" she asked "All you need to do is leave these stupid animals and you can have me instead"  
Simons eyes narrowed and his hands dropped down to the bed smouldering slightly "I won't leave my Pokemon they are my life, and how dare you speak to Nuri like that she's done nothing wrong!"

"I'm sorry I'm sorry" Holly suddenly changed tact "I'm just upset"

Simon's eyes softened and his fists returned to normal "Good now apologize to Nuri"

Holly grumbled a little, Simon didn't hear this but Phoenix and Ember certainly did and their eyes narrowed, Ember was still glaring daggers "I'm sorry Nuri" Holly began trying her hardest to sound sincere "I didn't mean it, it's not your fault" after making her apology she turned to Simon again "I'm sorry" she said holding her fake sincerity "Get better soon, I'll come check up on you tomorrow"

Simon smiled a little "It's okay, so I'll see you tomorrow I guess"

"vee eeev" Nuri muttered under her breath sobbing slightly

Simon heard this and turned his head to Nuri "Nuri" he called out weakly "come here"

Nuri uncurled herself and padded over to Simon slowly "vee eev" she kept repeating over and over

Simon looked at her sadly, he was feeling weak but he knew he had to make sure Nuri was okay "There's nothing to be sorry about Nuri, it's not your fault" he continued "trust me I don't balme you and neither does Phoenix or Ember," he stopped his eyes drooping as unconsciousness beckoned but he forced himself to continue his voice barely a whisper "Nuri these things happen, it could have been any of us" he paused again "Please Nuri don't blame yourself, I promise you it's not your fault" with that said Simon finally allowed his consciousness to slip away, his head hit the pillow and he was out like a light.

Holly stalked back to her home "That stupid fluff ball got my man injured, it's all her fault." She seethed "Stupid animals take up all of Simon's attention" she flicked her hair over her shoulder "Oh well I'm sure I can persuade him to leave them, but it may take longer than I had hoped" she sighed a little "Oh well Simon will be mine eventually, no man can resist me"


	17. Chapter 17

**Wildfire: Chapter 17**

Ember couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of the moment as she helped Simon administer the burn heal to his back; Nurse Joy had arrived moments ago handing a large tub to Simon along with instructions to slather his back with it. Simon cringed as the thick yellowish paste stung his back "Vuul piix vuuuul pix" Ember said caringly stealing Simon's favourite phrase when he was caring for her. Simon started laughing but it turned into a coughing fit, Ember pulled back and waited for the convulsions to stop before returning to her task. Phoenix and Nuri somehow managed to sleep through Simon's coughing fit; then again according to Nurse Joy none of his Pokemon got much sleep recently. "vuul" Ember said stepping back to admire her work and check for any patches she might have missed.

"Good" Simon let out a sigh of relief "That stuff hurts!"

"piix vul piix pix" Ember said unimpressed

"Well your stronger than me and you know it" Simon replied "Besides if you don't want to battle you can just tell me and I will pull you out" Simon reached out a gently stroked her head.

Ember smiled and leant into Simon's petting "Vuul pix vuuul?" she asked

Simon shook his head slowly "Nah I'm fine thanks" he sighed to himself, he could see that Ember was making herself ill by staying awake for so long "But you should get some rest" he finished

"vuuul piix vuul pix pix vuuuuul!" Ember said

Simon gave an encouraging smile and tousled the hair on her head "I care bout you too and I refuse to let you make yourself ill over me; you come first"

"pix vuul piix" Ember disagreed sharply

Simon smiled sadly "Please Ember just do it for me; I promise nothing will happen"

Ember nodded slowly "vul piix" she said softly she padded over and licked Simon on the face before curling up into a ball on his pillow and quickly falling asleep.

Simon lay on his back letting then burn heal do it's work; as he lay there he began reflecting on this strange burning sensation he had been feeling and why he had been able to understand Phoenix that one time.

Simon's quiet reflection was interrupted by Holly arriving just as she had said; she came into his room whistling to herself and walked over to his bed "Morning Simon" she said happily trying to make up for yesterday she had decided not to bring Pokemon into the conversation at all

"Morning" Simon said his voice a little muffled by the pillow

"Why are you on your back?" Holly asked "And what's this stuff?" she gingerly poked Simon's back

Simon winced as she touched a tender area "That's burn heal, so please don't touch it" he spoke up

Holly smiled "You sound a lot better today"

A small smile appeared on Simon's face "Well apparently I heal fast; the only reason I'm in here anymore really is that burn"

Holly frowned "How did you get that burn on your back anyway and what about those bullet wounds?"

Simon sighed quietly but elaborated "The bullet wounds were cauterized anyway so they won't cause much of a problem there is some major bruising and soft tissue trauma around the entry point that makes it painful to move but it's that burn on my back that makes it unbearable to move" he smiled sadly "Of course I can't let Ember know that"

"Huh? Why?" Holly asked

"She was the one who gave me the burn in the first place, it's killing her inside already that she did it and if I told her that it's the injury she gave me that kept me in here I think she would feel unworthy of me"

"Wait Ember burnt you" Holly said shocked "yet you still care about her?" she mentally cheered; she had found a piece of ammunition for use against Ember and she already had one for Nuri all that left was the Quilava

Simon nodded "Of course I do; she got me by accident when she was defending me from the Arbok"

"What Arbok?" Holly asked confused

Simon sighed again "It was one of the thugs Pokemon" he explained "It isn't really important"

"Oh.." Holly smiled "So how much longer are you going to be in here for?"  
"About another four days maximum" Simon replied happily "but according to Nurse Joy if my body can cope with the burns as well as everything else I should be out of here tomorrow or the day after" he smiled

"Wow; that's really fast" Holly said surprised "..So are you heading off to after you recover?"

"I'm going to sign up for the Pokemon League Challenge" Simon said "so I would be heading down to Sandgem Town and Professor Rowans' lab" he smiled

Holly frowned a little; she hadn't expected Simon to be the type to go in for the League challenge, but she quickly replaced the frown with a smile "I hadn't pegged you as the battling sort" she said simply

Simon shook his head "I'm not" he sighed a little "But Ember and the others enjoy battling and they come first" he smiled "It was Ember's idea really I'm just going along with her"

Holly sighed softly; she hadn't expected Simon to be this close to his Pokemon, oh well no matter she thought "I've always wanted to see Sandgem Town but I was too afraid of wild Pokemon to go by myself" she lied smoothly with practiced ease "Do you think I could tag along with you for the trip?"

Simon smiled "I don't see why not" he smiled "but you'll have to bring your own camping gear my tents' already kinda full with the four of us" he smiled

"Okay then it's settled" Holly smiled "I'll come see you in two days time to see if your up for release" she winked flirtatiously "See you then" then she walked out of the door. Holly made her way back to her large house muttering to herself "So he sleeps with them too; Arceus if I didn't know better I'd swear that boy was in love with those stupid animals. But still there's no way he could pick those stupid things over a gorgeous girl like me"

Back in the hospital Nurse Joy had come back into Simon's room to check up on him "Wow you've done a great job with the burn heal" she paused "but how did you manage to cover your back?"

Simon smiled proudly and gently touched Ember's head "I did nothing Ember applied it for me" his face fell "I think she felt duty bound to do so since she but the burn there in the first place"

Nurse Joy caught the drop in his mood "Well she did an excellent job, make sure to congratulate her on it when she wakes up" Nurse Joy dropped her voice slightly realising that all the Pokemon were asleep

"Simon laughed wincing at the pain but not descending into a coughing fit "I don't think you need to worry about waking them" he reassured her "I know for a fact that nothing at all will wake Ember unless she smells breakfast" he smiled

Nurse Joy giggled "I'll keep that in mind, so do you have any more questions you'd like to ask?"

Simon smiled "Just one. How long will it be before I can laugh without my chest hurting?"

Nurse Joy closed her eyes for a second in deep thought "Well the pain is from the soft tissue trauma around the bullet wounds" she paused "So with your increased healing rate I would imagine the pain should recede with every passing day and be gone completely within a fortnight at the most" she smiled

"Ok thanks" Simon smiled back "I guess I'll see you around tea time"

Nurse Joy laughed "I'm sure you will, now get some rest it'll help your recovery"

Simon nodded and closed his eyes joining his Pokemon in the land of dreams.


	18. Chapter 18

**Wildfire: Chapter 18**

Simon smiled and gently placed his hand on Ember's head, Nurse Joy lifted her head completing her inspection "Well" she scratched her head "If anything your body is coping with the burns even better than your other injuries" she stepped back "I don't see any reason to confine you to this bed any longer" she held out her hand "now grab on and I'll pull you up; but it will hurt"

Simon nodded exuberant, he was finally getting out of this stupid bed, he reached out and grabbed hold of Nurse Joy's hand before hauling himself up into a sitting position wincing as his back cried out in protest; he paused composing himself before standing up with an exalted whoop of joy, the outburst was echoed by Ember, Nuri and Phoenix while Nurse Joy let go of his hand and stepped back a benign smile on her face "congratulations" she said "Now try and walk, it will hurt but you really need to start using your muscles again"

Simon nodded and took a step forward crying out as his entire torso was engulfed in agony he stumbled back his eyes screwed shut Nurse Joy started forward and the Pokemon tensed up ready to spring into action but Simon caught himself and steadied his feet "Ember, arm" he said through gritted teeth. Ember nodded and ran over to Simon's bag lying in the corner of the room, using her mouth to undo the zip she rustled around before emerging with the small black canister that contain pain killers for his arm she padded back over to Simon and threw the canister up with a flick of her head. Simon's arm shot out and neatly caught the canister, Simon ignoring the burning pain from the sudden motion pulled the top off the canister, reaching in he carefully extracted one of the small white pills a small smile on his face "This should help" he murmured

"Wait" Nurse Joy spoke up angrily "What is that?" she motioned to the pill in Simon's hand

"It's a painkiller" Simon explained "My arm occasionally flares up so my mother got me some painkillers" he gestured to the stitches on his arm then to the black metal canister

"Vul piiix vuuuul!" Ember added angrily, Simon chuckled slightly wincing but noting that the pain from laughing had indeed receded slightly overnight

"What did she say?" Nurse Joy asked wondering what was so funny since Ember had sounded so serious

"If it helps me does it matter what it is" Simon translated a large smile on his face "You know she does have a point"

"Eeev veeeeee veee veeeee eeeeev?" Nuri spoke up

Simon spun round on his heels "I'll explain later" he said then noting the confused look on Nurse Joy's face "she wanted to know how I got the scars on my arm"

Nurse Joy eyed Simon suspiciously "You can understand your Pokemon?"

Simon shook his head gently "Not exactly"

"Quiiiil ava quil avaaa?" Phoenix shouted out cutting off Nurse Joy

Simon laughed but it quickly turned into a coughing fit, as he straightened up he smiled at Phoenix "she does have a point, can I take the pill or what?"

Nurse Joy looked surprised at the question but nodded "Sure I can't see the harm just try to take it easy, you're still hurt even if you're not bed ridden"

Simon smiled and swallowed the pill sighing as he felt the familiar numbness override his senses "Much better" he sighed "Now am I free to go now or what?"

Nurse Joy shook her head "No, I would like you to stay here for one more day just so I can keep an eye on you"

Simon nodded "Right, anything else you want to know about me or anything else I need to know?"

Nurse Joy smiled "Well I was wondering what you meant by not really earlier"

Simon smiled "Ember taught me to understand her and since Phoenix and Nuri are so similar I can make very accurate guesses at what they are saying"

Nurse Joy nodded "Can you let me take a look at your stitches?"

Simon frowned a little "What for?"

"Well" Nurse Joy explained "You said they hurt from time to time, they shouldn't do that" she grabbed Simon's arm and looked at the stitching sighing in frustration "I don't understand even the bits that I didn't have to re-do are just fine there shouldn't be any problem" she frowned "especially with your improved healing rate" she sighed and let go of his arm "What caused this anyway?"

Simon smiled and sat down heavily on the bed only a small twitch of his eye betrayed the throb of pain that ran through his body despite the painkillers "Well since you both want to know what happened I guess I can tell you at the same time" he patted the bed besides him, Phoenix and Nuri jumped up onto the bed one on each side of Simon leaning into him for support whilst Ember just jumped straight onto Simon's lap, Simon wrapped his arms around Ember pulling her closer in a hug; Nurse Joy took the guest seat smiling at the scene that was unfolding in front of her "I guess you and your Pokemon are close then"

Simon laughed "Yep, I got all of my scars defending them" he smiled and began to explain "Put simply the cuts in my arm were from a Mightyena I was fighting"

"You fought a Mightyena!" Nurse Joy exclaimed

Simon nodded a silly smile on his face "yep and I won" he punched the air heedless of the pain

"But why!?" Nurse Joy said ignoring for now the fact he had beaten a Mightyena single handed

"He was trying to hurt Ember" he smiled at the memory "That was how I met her, the Mightyena got one good bite in on my arm and I the end I beat it by kicking it in the face"

Nurse Joy nodded "And how often have you done things like this?" she decided not to question how a child had beaten a fully grown Mightyena

Simon thought about it for a second "Only three times" he replied

"vuuul piix vuuul pix" Ember objected

Simon nodded and squeezed Ember affectionately "Right I had forgotten about that"

"What?" Nurse Joy asked, Nuri and Phoenix both gave Simon an inquisitive look echoing her sentiment

"Well about three months after we had met Ember had gone off into the forest" he laughed "of course back then she had no idea that it was the Vileplume mating season

"The pollen?" Nurse Joy asked

Simon nodded "Yup, got it in one. I ran after her and caught her up, she had already breathed in too much of the pollen and was completely paralyzed, luckily I had my pack with me so I had some doses of full heal, I got her moving again and we ran out of the forest"

"So what's so bad about that?" Nurse Joy asked impressed by his loyalty but confused as to why this particular event ranked with the other two she had heard about and the third one she had on idea about

Simon continued "Well by the time we stumbled out of the forest my legs were beginning to lock up I had, like Ember, inhaled too much pollen"

"Piiiiix vuul pix" Ember said proudly tilting her head up and licking Simon's chin

Simon laughed "Yep you repaid the favour all right; Ember saved me" he explained "luckily she had seen how to apply the full heal so she got it out of my pack and somehow got it into my bloodstream" he shook his head "I have no idea how she did that because I couldn't turn my head" he smiled "but it did the trick and we both got back"

Ember chuckled "vuuul piix vuuul pix" Nuri and Phoenix both giggled and Simon blushed a little

"Hey you never went back in the forest either" he retorted cuffing her head playfully

Ember blushed slightly too and opened her mouth to reply but she was cut off by a stunned Nurse Joy "Wait the full heal worked on you?"  
Simon nodded "Yeah; what of it I thought all of those products were designed to work with humans too"

Nurse Joy shook her head "No they aren't, they're for Pokemon only" she frowned "What else has worked for you?"

Simon thought about it for a second "Potions work on minor injuries like small cuts and bruises and I know full heals and antidotes work as does burn heal"

Nurse Joy nodded "Well out of that list only burn heal is designed to work on humans too" she sighed "You know there's much more to you than meets the eye Simon but still it's not my place to pry, though if you're dropping by Professor Rowans I would recommend telling him what you told me maybe he can help you figure this out"

Simon nodded "Ok sounds good" he leant back and shifted back into the bed

Nurse Joy stood up again sighing "Well I'll see you tomorrow just remember to take it easy"

Simon nodded smiling "Don't worry I don't think these guys will let me do anything to hurt myself" he gestured to his Pokemon

Nurse Joy nodded smiling "Well see you tomorrow for the final check up" she left the room the door swishing as it shut

Simon sighed as he leant back into the bed, now he had even more mysteries on his mind maybe the Professor could help answer some of his questions "Well goodnight everyone" he mumbled before closing his eyes quickly falling asleep relishing the though that when he awoke he would be free to get back to his travels.


	19. Chapter 19

**Wildfire: Chapter 19**

Yay action chapter after all the boring recovery ones; things are getting worse in a hurry for Simon now.

* * *

As the sun set a familiar figure lurked in the back alley behind the Pokemon centre "That little bastard my have gotten away but that Eevee will be mine" a hint of worry flashed across his hardened features as he sighed "The boss'll have my head if I fail again, I mean how was I supposed to know that last guy had a Nidoking" he glanced down at a small black watch on his wrist the digits glowing an eerie green light read 11:30pm he smirked and slammed a clip into his revolver and placing it back in his pocket "Just in case the kid wakes up" he murmured to himself smirking. Using the windowsill as a foothold he heaved himself up to the second floor window to Simon's room, he tugged on the window expecting it to slide open easily but it was locked tight "Shit" he muttered to himself, he drew out his pistol and flicked it round so he was holding it by the barrel like a club, he hit the window with the butt of the gun smirking as it shattered "Still got it" he muttered slipping through the window mindful of the jagged shards still left clinging to the frame "Now were is that Eevee" he muttered sweeping his gaze across the room "Ah there you are" he smiled spotting a small curled up shape on the pillow of Simon's bed, reaching down he scooped up Ember not realising his mistake. He quietly slipped out of the window again trying carefully to avoid the glass shards; however one large shard nicked Ember's back causing her to cry out in pain and wriggle in her sleep, he let out a sigh of relief when his prize didn't wake up. At hearing Ember's cry Simon mumbled in his sleep "Don't worry Ember I'm here" he rolled over and fell out of the bed onto the hard floor; the impact jolted him awake he swept the room trying to reassure himself that Ember was indeed okay, his dream had been so vivid, but she was no where to be seen a strong breeze drew his attention to the window, or at least the remains of the window. Putting two and two together Simon's eyes narrowed dangerously, he guessed someone had kidnapped Ember, the burning sensation rushed up engulfing his body unstoppable in it's fury "Someone's gonna pay for this" he whispered his voice venomous his eyes flashed red once, twice then turned to red orbs, the iris and even the whites of his eyes swallowed up by an angry blood red a small smirk played on his face as he took a run at the shattered window and dove through it in a graceful leap his body heat obliterating the remaining glass in the window, he hit the wall on the other side of the alley his window had faced and drove his fist into the brickwork creating a small handhold. Using the leverage from the hold he flicked his body upwards in a neat arc landing gracefully on the roof of the building opposite, his eyes swept the horizon, he could just about make out a figure running down a back alley smiling to himself he murmured "gotcha" before breaking into a run over the rooftops towards the retreating figure, leaping gracefully between roofs even clearing a large main street at one point without even breaking his stride; it didn't take long for Simon to catch up and overtake the crook. He leapt down into the alley in front of him a smirk on his face; the crook jumped as he spotted Simon land gracefully only a few feet in front of him "H..how..how did..you catch me?" he stuttered

"Give me back Ember" Simon spoke his voice dripping with anger and unspoken threats; the crook hesitated "Now!" Simon yelled his voice echoing strangely

The crook matched the smirk on Simon's face and pulled out his gun, clicked the safety off he pointed it at the mass of fur in his arms "Not another step you freak!" he demanded "or I'll blown this stupid creature's head off." he smiled exuberant in his apparent victory "Now you're going to let me go and maybe you'll see Ember again" he sneered her name sarcastically

Simon eyes narrowed and he held out his hand in front of him, his palm pointed at the crook he concentrated and a ball of fire blasted towards the stunned man; he screamed in agony as it engulfed his shoulder and dropped Ember as the arm went limp. Ember hit the ground hard, head first, and gave a weak little cry before falling silent; the smell of burnt flesh hung in the air and the crooks face was a mask of pain, his left shoulder was blackened and in the very centre of the burn the gleaming white of bone could be made out, blood oozed into the wood it's red stark against the black of the incinerated flesh and white of the bone. "You bastard, you fucking bastard" the man gasped "For that you can say goodbye to your fucking pet" once again he levelled the gun at Ember's head; Simon's figure seemed to vanish and before the crook knew what was happening he was being slammed into a wall his gun skittering away across the asphalt, Simon held the man by the throat "You're lucky" he whispered menacingly "I'll let you live tonight but threaten me or my friends again and I'll make sure it'll be the last mistake you ever make" he backed off slightly and casually flicked the man down the alleyway ignoring the screams of agony as he slid a good few feet on his injured arm, Simon walked over to Ember and carefully picked her up he smiled softly, she was breathing, he began walking down the alley casually carrying the stricken Ember but paused remembering the gun, shifting Ember's weight to one hand for a second he tossed a second smaller fireball over his shoulder, reducing the gun to a small puddle of molten slag. As he walked down the alley his eyes began returning to their usual blue as his anger subsided; he blinked a few times and looked around, he was in an alley carrying an injured Vulpix? No wait that's Ember! What happened? He sighed to himself, I really got to stop passing out, he concentrated trying to remember what had happened he could recall a man with a gun threatening Ember and the smell of burnt flesh but it was all hazy and tinged a blood red colour, he sighed and began the trudge back to the Pokemon centre his feet taking him back unconsciously, as if he knew the route off by heart even though he had no idea where he actually was.

Simon frowned and paced back and forth, the waiting was killing him, the door slid open and Nurse Joy emerged "How is she?" Simon asked anxiously

Nurse Joy smiled kindly "She's fine she just got knocked out"

Simon let out a sigh of relief and glanced at the clock, it read 1:34 he sighed; he had only been waiting for half an hour or so yet it still felt like an eternity "So can we get my physical done now too?" he asked smiling

Nurse Joy laughed "Eager to get going huh?"

Simon nodded smiling "Yeah I hate being confined to a room"

Nurse Joy shook her head "Well you still managed to find trouble even in a recovery room, so at least it wasn't totally dull"

Simon laughed, bearing the pain in his chest, "True, well I guess I'll see you and Ember in the morning then"

Nurse Joy nodded "Goodnight then"

"Night" Simon said heading back to his room, smirking slightly when he spotted the cardboard covering the shattered and melted remains of the window he slid back into the bed smiling when he thought of Nuri and Phoenix's responses when they heard what had happened. Nuri would panic and Phoenix would worry he guessed smiling to himself as these thoughts carried him off to sleep

Elsewhere a badly wounded criminal propped himself up on one of the alley wall and pulled out his radio, the casing had been slightly distorted by the heat from Simon's blast and he was unsure about whether or not it was still working; he pushed the button waiting with bated breath after a hiss of static a voice spoke through, a little distorted but understandable, "This is control please state your rank and number"

He let out a sigh of relief before replying "field agent 5463"

"Hey Tox" the voice replied now sounding much friendlier

Tox smiled at the nickname "I thought we agreed you'd use my whole codename when we talk on the radio"

"Ha! Toxicroak is such a mouthful, I prefer Tox"

Tox smiled "Tox it is then, anyway down to business"

"Well last I checked you got the Jubilife assignment" the voice sent back clearly unimpressed "You must have done something the really piss of the boss to get that patch"

Tox cringed "Yeah, I got completely had by some kid with a Nidoking" he braced himself for the laugher and wasn't disappointed

After he had calmed down the voice from the radio continued "Anyway so what's the report on.." the sound of shuffling paper and typing could be heard "the Eevee" he finished

"Well I couldn't get the Eevee but I found something even more interesting"

"Hmm" the voice was clearly unimpressed "Lets hear this excuse then"

Tox shook his head a little "That thing's trainer his not human, here look at this data" he fiddled with the buttons on his watch sending the recording on the tiny camera concealed in it to the main base

He smirked as he heard a low whistle come over the radio "You weren't kidding, well I'll inform the boss. Stick to that kid; you're mission is now reconnaissance we'll send a team in to capture him once we can work out how to beat this thing"

"Rodger" Tox smiled and clicked off the radio, that dumb kid wouldn't know what hit him


	20. Chapter 20

**Wildfire: Chapter 20**

Simon woke up early, after explaining the situation to Phoenix and Nuri, he walked down the main stairs to the lobby flanked by Phoenix and with Nuri nestled in his arms having to use the wall for support several times as his legs gave out or the pain became too much to bare, his slow progress across the lobby drew a few odd glances but with each step Simon forced the pain further to the back of his mind, so by the time only the occasional wince or involuntary twitch of a muscle would betray the pain he felt. He smiled when he saw the look on Nurse Joy's face when she turned around and saw him "I know, I know" he cut her off before she could begin "I just came down to see whether I could see Ember and to ask how she was doing"

"Well since you put all that effort into it come with me" she beckoned for Simon to follow and walked towards a door with a red cross on it, Simon swallowed preparing for the worst "Ember will be fine" Nurse Joy said, the words' effect was almost instantaneous; Simon's face lit up and his eyes gleamed with renewed life "but" Nurse Joy continued "she has amnesia; she can't remember what happened that night beyond a few very vague feelings" Nurse Joy put a hand on Simon's shoulder as she stopped outside a small door with the number 431 on the door in red writing "She's in here"

Simon gave a curt nod "Thanks" he said before touching the door release pad, the door opened with a small hydraulic hiss and Simon gingerly stepped across the boundary followed by Phoenix and Nuri, he immediately spotted Ember sleeping peacefully on a small bed Simon approached slowly and gently shook her awake "Wake up Ember it's time to go" he whispered

Ember stirred with a small groan "vuul piix vuuul?" she asked stretching her legs

Simon's face turned serious for a second "That guy who shot me came back and kidnapped you"

Ember nodded accepting the explanation and jumped lightly to the floor besides Simon "vuul piix piix?" she asked

"I'm fine" he said tousling her hair "But I'm not allowed to take another painkiller until after I've checked out so don't make me laugh alright"

"vul" Ember nodded

"Alright then" Simon turned around and headed out of the room he stopped in front of Nurse Joy "So can we get my physical done now?"

Nurse Joy nodded "Ok follow me"

* * *

Half an hour later Simon stepped back into the main hall with a clean bill of health, well mostly clean he thought to himself; Nurse Joy had warned him again to take it easy and his body temperature had been higher than usual but no other anomalies had been found. He scanned the room quickly, people carrying Pokeballs of all kinds were rushing around usually accompanied by a Chansey or two but he found who he was looking for standing in the corner of the room with a light pink rucksack leaning against the wall next to her "Hey Holly" Simon said with a wave as he approached her, behind him Ember made a nasty face but this went unnoticed by everyone

"Simon" Holly spun round "So you're better?" Simon nodded smiling "That's great news shall we start off for Sandgem town now then?"

Simon shook his head "No not right now" he leant down to his Pokemons' level, "I promised these guys a bath and they will get one, we'll head up to the reservoirs first then back down through town to Sandgem" he laughed at the face Ember pulled grateful of the painkiller for numbing the pain

"Oh..ok then" Holly agreed annoyed that Simon had once again put the Pokemon first

* * *

Simon laughed as he half dragged Ember into the shallow water, she was putting up playful resistance but Simon knew she wasn't trying, when she was in the water she splashed around a bit as Simon lovingly washed her fur out for her. Behind them Holly, Phoenix and Nuri were watching on with interest; Simon finished washing Ember at let her go laughing again as she flicked water at him with her tails as she padded back onto the shore "Phoenix you're next" Simon called out smiling; Phoenix came over a little apprehensively but quickly relaxed when Simon began his ministrations. Holly smiled Simon seemed to enjoy the playful side of his Pokemon, well she would prove she could be playful too, maybe she could play a joke on him he seemed like the type to take it well; her smile twisted into an evil smirk as she decided to push Simon into the water; if nothing else it would give them something to talk about on the way back. Simon finished up cleaning Phoenix being careful of her ribs just in case they were still sore despite all the evidence speaking otherwise and called Nuri over, Nuri trotted over happily a small blush forming on her cheeks as Simon washed her; behind them Holly snuck up behind Simon, unnoticed by Ember and Phoenix who were too busy shaking themselves dry. Simon smiled and stood up letting Nuri wander back over to the shore and Holly chose that time to strike she pushed Simon into the water laughing, Simon fell with a yell and thrashed around in the water. Holly watched still laughing, believing that Simon was just fooling around, when a gout of flame passed dangerously close to her face she spun around and saw Ember and Phoenix both absolutely livid, Embers jaw was still smoking slightly betraying her as the source of the blast "vuul piiix vuuul piix!?" she demanded

"quiil avaa quiiil avaaa!" Phoenix yelled a torrent of abuse at her before turning to try and help Simon "Quiiiil ava quiiiil" she shouted to him

Simon heard her advice and nodded, he stopped thrashing and straightened his legs, his feet touched the bottom of the river and he realised he could keep him head above water by standing on tip toes so he began his slow walk back to shore trying his hardest to keep his head above water at all times.

"eeev veee eev?" Nuri asked a little confused

"quiiil avaaaa quiiiil quil" Phoenix said simply explaining why he was so angry

Nuri's eyes widened and she turned on Holly growling lightly from behind Ember "Help!" holly screeched at Simon "They've gone crazy"

Simon, who was now on the shore though still sopping wet shook his head "No they're defending me," he frowned at Holly "why did you push me in?"

Holly was a little worried "It was a joke" she said quietly

Simon frowned "Well I can't swim so don't do that again" he turned to Ember his expression and voice softening "Can you help with this" he asked jokingly gesturing to his sopping clothes

Ember tore her angry glace from Holly and bounded over to Simon using her flame to dry him off quickly "vuul pix?"

"Much better thanks" Simon smiled and gently patted her head

"I'm so sorry" Holly apologized desperately "I didn't know you couldn't swim"

Simon shook his head "Don't worry you couldn't have but please don't do that again" he began to set off back towards town and Sandgem "Now come on" Ember, Nuri and Phoenix flanked Simon throwing the occasional angry glance back at Holly who was following a little way behind, they weren't quite as forgiving as Simon. Simon smiled as he looked down at his friends "Hey Phoenix?"

Phoenix looked up "Quilll?"

"What did you shout at Holly after she pushed me into the lake?" Phoenix gave Simon an odd look and glanced at Ember who shook her head

"Vuuuul piix vull" Ember explained quickly

Simon laughed "I guess you didn't teach me many rude words did you"

Ember shook her head laughing


	21. Chapter 21

**Wildfire; Chapter 21**

They quickly cut back through Jubilife city, the Pokemon walked slightly closer to Simon for protection but he didn't notice the subtle difference. The Pokemon relaxed as soon as they exited Jubilife and began their walk down the gentle slopes of Route 202. The group had been walking for about two hours when Holly began complaining that her legs were hurting, "Please stop, my legs" Holly whined as they continued to walk on, their speed reduced to a trudge so Holly could keep up, Simon sighed at this rate it would take two days to reach Sandgem town "Okay then" he conceded "We'll stop but only for five minutes" Holly sunk to her knees gratefully

"Thank you" she said sweetly

"No problem" Simon replied "Just try and keep up we've still got a while to go"

Ember padded over to Simon and nudged him gently with her nose "Huh?" Simon said as he looked down "Vuuul piiix vuuul pix?" Ember asked

Simon smiled and gently rubbed Ember's head "I know she's slow" he replied "but I promised to take her to Sandgem and she hasn't done anything wrong"

Ember snorted at Simon's statement in her mind she had already done enough damage "Vuuul piiix vul" she said changing the subject

"Yeah let's continue the lessons then" Simon smiled and scratched her behind her ear eliciting a happy "vuul"

Ember trotted over to the side of the road looking for an appropriate stick, finding one she picked it up and returned to Simon dropping it at his feet as she thought of a way to show what the word's meant "vuuul piix vuuul: vuul" she said

Simon nodded "Alright go and I'll try and guess"

Ember nodded and quickly drew a crude heart on the floor "vuul" she reiterated pointing at the image with her tails

Simon smiled "Heart?" Ember shook her head "Love then?" Ember smiled and nodded

"Okay then" Simon said "Next word please"

Holly Phoenix and Nuri watched on in interest as Ember scratched a crude stick figure of a dog "piix" she declared sniggering a bit

Simon laughed wincing slightly as he did so "Hmmm lets see" he looked her in the eyes "Well I know it's rude" he smiled as Ember nodded enthusiastically "Hmm rude and a…dog?" he laughed as Ember nodded again "well that's easy then, it means bitch" he laughed as Ember nodded and jumped onto his lap licking his face.

"How did you get that so easily?" Holly asked amazed

Simon stood up with Ember still in his arms "I've know Ember almost as long as I can remember so I can tell what she's thinking in most cases" he replied

"vuuuul pix" Ember said licking his hand

Simon nodded "And Ember here knows how to get her messages across to me"

"Eeeev veeee vee" Nuri spoke up

"Huh? Oh I guess we should get a move on. Thanks" Simon turned and put Ember down gently and gave Nuri a quick pat on the head before straightening up "Let's go"

Holly grumbled slightly as she stood up earning glares from Ember and Phoenix but the group was soon continuing down the route at a reasonable pace "At this rate we should only take two days to get there" Simon said cheerfully, the group passed many people coming in the opposite direction but aside from casual greetings they just passed by silently. After a few more hours Holly began grumbling again but she did so under her breath so as not to annoy Simon; a few minutes later Simon glanced at the sky before announcing "Lunch time" he pulled over to the side of the road and sat down "You guys know what to do, make sure to tell Nuri the idea" he smiled

"Vul piiix" Ember said attempting a salute with one of her tails

Simon laughed along with the Pokemon "Alright then be back soon" Ember and Phoenix nodded and turned to Nuri, after a brief exchange they all disappeared into the undergrowth. Holly was exuberant, she and Simon finally had some alone time, she scooted over closer to him smiling "So Simon" she asked "What do you think of me?"

Simon who was a little preoccupied grinding up some Oran berries for the salad looked up "Huh? Oh, well.." he scratched the back of his head awkwardly "Your okay I guess, I don't have anything to go on really but my girls don't seem to like you much" he smiled "though they are a little overprotective sometimes, you caused some problems when you pushed me into that lake but that's mostly my fault for not letting you know I couldn't swim"

Holly frowned slightly "That's not what I meant; I mean do you 'like' me?"

"Sure. I guess" Simon answered not looking up from his preparation

Holly sighed quietly, he was really clueless, maybe a more direct approach was needed "Ahhh!" she shrieked "A Spinarak! I hate Spinarak" she scampered close to Simon and clutched at him. Simon blushed slightly when Holly clutched him but put it to the back of his mind "Where?" he asked

"Over there" Holly stuttered trying to sound scared as she pulled Simon closer, she pointed over into the bushes

"I don't see it" Simon said confused

"Maybe it's hiding?" Holly offered lamely

Simon smiled "Okay then I'll get rid of it for you" he threw her off and stood up walking into the bushes where she had pointed, Holly heard some loud noises then Simon emerged again "There it's gone" Simon smiled, this usually worked with Ember whenever she thought there was something hiding.

Holly nodded a small blush on her face; trust Simon to do the chivalrous thing and try and remove the Spinarak rather than just tell her not to be afraid, a small rustle in the bushes drew her attention. Simon smiled "Don't worry it's Ember not a Spinarak"

Holly smiled at his attempt to comfort her still slightly blushing "How do you know?" she asked

Simon laughed "I just do" and true to his word a light red muzzle soon emerged from the bushes quickly followed by the rest of Ember's body "Hey girl" Simon said, his face lighting up "Where are the others?"

"Vuuul piix vul" Ember replied her voice a little muffled by the berries she was carrying

Simon nodded "Ok then, show me what you've got and we'll wait for them" Ember dropped the berries at Simon's feet and jumped into her usual place on his lap "Hmm lets see" Simon mumbled sorting through the berries Ember had gathered "Leppa, Sitrus and hmm I don't recognise this one" he scrutinised the small blue berry noting the patches of lighter blue that covered it's hard outer skin, taking a small nibble his face puckered "Sour and dry" he declared handing the rest of the berry to Ember who happily gulped it down.

"Vuuul piix vul piix?" Ember asked

Simon smiled and tussled her head "Well I've made some salad" Ember pulled a face at the announcement "Don't worry I added some Oran berries for you guys" Ember nodded satisfied and licked Simon's hand by way of thanks.

It didn't take long for Ember and Nuri to re-emerge back onto the path "Hey!" Simon called out happy to have them back "What did you guys get" Phoenix padded over and dumped a load of berries at Simon's feet with Nuri following suit "Simon smiled as he pulled his metal berry case from his bag, adding the berries Ember had brought he went about sorting the berries Nuri and Phoenix had found "Hmmm" he mumbled as he sorted "Lots of Bluk berries" he smiled and patted Ember on the head "I know how much you like those "a few Orans and some more of that mystery berry Ember had found. Finally sitting up from his task he snapped shut the case and slid it back into his bag "Alright guys time to dig in" he pulled the cover from the bowl of food and dished it out into five roughly even portions handing one to each member of the group. Reaching back into his bag he pulled out a map of the local region it went from Floaroma town down the coast and you could make out the easterly edge of Oreburgh on the far left of the map, spreading it out on the ground he pointed at the first bend in Route 202 with his free hand whilst eating with his other one "We're about here" he explained "and we should make it at least this far before we set up camp for the night" he shifted his hand to the second major bend "It's a good few miles but we should be able to make it if we walk at a constant pace" Ember and Phoenix glared at Holly over their shoulders. They quickly finished off their meal and Simon packed everything up making a mental note to stop and wash up next time they passed a stream or pond "Ok then, I guess we should get a move on we've got a good distance to go before nightfall". The group set off again Holly lagging a little behind plotting another way to try and seduce Simon since her last idea had been useless.


	22. Chapter 22

**Wildfire: Chapter 22**

As they were walking along Holly suddenly threw herself to the ground with a screech, Ember gave her an unimpressed glare "Vuuuul piix vulllll pix?" she asked

Simon turned around to see what had happened "I'm sure she didn't mean to trip up" Simon replied to Ember "Why would she throw herself to the floor?"

Ember sighed and shook her head Holly stuck out her tongue at Ember "Hah, I win" she hissed so only Ember could hear, Ember glared at Holly and gave her a small but painful nip on the back causing her to wince in pain "I'll get you for that" she hissed as Simon approached.

"Are you going to get up or stay on the floor all day" Simon asked

"Oh right" Holly mumbled a little disappointed pushing herself up "Alright then lets go"

Simon smiled and nodded turning back around; Ember quickly fell into her usual place at Simon's heel whilst once again Holly was lagging behind. As they walked Simon began filling Nuri in on his personal history, behind them Holly listened intently but Simon's quiet voice made it difficult for her to pick up everything he was saying, she was hearing snippets but they made little or no sense to her. Nuri blushed heavily when she heard Simon describe how he rescued her it threw the rescue into a new light and she found herself admiring him more for it, Simon's story came to a close and they continued walking just content to be in each others company, meanwhile behind them Holly was trying to piece together what had been said maybe there was something she could use. She quickly caught up with Simon putting on an extra burst of speed "What did you say your dad's name was again?"

"Archie, why?" Simon replied confused

"Well" Holly said "What do you know about him?"

"Not much" Simon sighed "He liked sailing and he loved my mum. But that's all I know"

Holly shook her head "No way, no way"

"What!?" Simon demanded exasperated

"Hey you're a trainer aren't you?" a third voice called out

Simon spun around forgetting about Holly "Yeah, why?" he asked eying up the new arrival; he was about his age maybe slightly older, his blonde hair sat in an untidy mess on his head and his brown eyes seemed to smile.

"I was hoping for a battle" he laughed "Oh and my name is Greg"

Simon smiled and deposited his bag at the side of the road next to Holly "Mine's Simon" he looked down at his Pokemon "Anyone want to fight?" he asked

Ember nodded and stepped forward, she had some pent up anger anyway and she figured she might as well use it constructively, "Vuuuul pix"

Simon smiled at Ember and stood up "Okay then. Bring it on!"

Greg nodded "I choose you Aurora" he tossed a Pokeball in the air and a Vaporeon emerged in a flash of light

Simon cringed at the appearance of a water type but wasn't particularly surprised "Ember be careful alright"

Ember nodded and gave a reassuring "vuuuul" before turning her attention entirely to her opponent

"Aurora use quick attack" Aurora responded to the command by dashing towards Ember her legs working overtime to accelerate her above her usual running speed

"Try a dodge then counter" Simon called out, Ember tensed up as the Vaporeon shot at her. At the last second she dove to a side but she misjudged Aurora's speed and the attack still clipped her side, shaking off the minor injury Ember turned to face her opponent and launched a flamethrower attack "Aurora defend with mist and counter with water gun" Aurora nodded and quickly the surrounding area was cloaked with a thick mist, Ember's flamethrower caused a small area to appear to be glowing but otherwise had no discernable effect. A blast of water seemed to come from nowhere and hit Ember in the side, she squealed with pain and shot a jet of flame in the direction the attack came from "Acid armour finish this" Greg's voice could be heard over the roar of flames.

"What's he doing?" Simon wondered "Acid armour isn't an aggressive attack, but" he muttered "the arena is full of mist and mist is just water droplets" a revelation struck, Aurora had blended herself with the mist she could effectively teleport anywhere within the cloud "Ember get out of there now!" Simon shouted scared for his friend's health, inside the cloud Ember was finding this easier said than done every time she tried to escape a blast of water would pass in front of her face and prevent her escape "Hydro pump now whilst she can't see you" the command scared Simon he knew he had to do something soon

"Ember fire spin quickly! Evaporate the mist" me called in a flash of inspiration, inside the fog bank Ember concentrated as a spiralling pillar of fire formed around her and smug grin appeared on he face as the hissing of the newly formed steam filled the air, Simon smiled in relief as he saw the flaming vortex breach the top of the fog bank and the mist began to recede leaving behind Aurora standing on the far side of the arena facing Ember. Ember dropped the attack needing a second to recover, the second never came, the moment she dropped the attack Aurora let fly with her hydro pump the incredible surge of pressurised water blasted Ember off her feet and carried her backwards into a tree Simon winced at the sickening crunch that reached his ears when Ember impacted the tree praying that was the sound of wood breaking not bones. Ember fell forward onto the ground with a feeble cry leaving a massive splintered hole in the tree "You win" Simon called out running towards Ember he carefully picked her up and inspected her, she was completely soaked and he could make out a multitude of bloody gnashes on her back from the impact with the tree and he imagined she would have at least a dozen splinters lodged in her back too, she was unconscious but considering her current condition Simon thought that was probably for the best.

"Is she going to be okay?" Greg asked tentatively

"Vaaap ooooreon vap?" Aurora echoed his statement

"She'll be fine" Simon finally declared "Good match" he turned around to face Greg and held out his hand

Greg clasped Simon's hand and they shook "I hope we meet again sometime"

"Me too" Simon smiled "Of course next time we'll win" he smiled

Greg laughed as they broke their handshake "We'll just have to see about that won't we" he pulled Aurora's pokeball off his belt "Aurora return great job girl" the Vaporeon disappeared back inside it's ball with a happy trill "Well this is goodbye for now I guess" Greg said smiling

"Yeah" Simon agreed "Well see you around I guess. Bye" after saying his goodbyes he turned his attention solely over to his injured friend "Phoenix, Nuri" he called out "Can you two get me a towel and my berry case please"

Nuri and Phoenix both nodded even though Simon wasn't looking in their direction and went over to Simon's bag a rummaged around looking for the items Simon had requested "Quiiil avaaa quil?" Phoenix asked her voice slightly muffled by the towel in her mouth

"Hmm" Simon thought about it as he gently stroked Ember's head "Ah yes I also need the med-kit thanks for reminding me"

Phoenix nodded dumping the towel next to Simon "Quiil avaa" she said before heading back for the med-kit

Simon glanced over his shoulder and couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Nuri struggling with his berry case; it was almost as large as she was! "I guess you didn't really plan ahead did you" he laughed

Nuri dropped the case briefly "Eeev veeee eev" she agreed shaking her head slightly

Simon laughed again wincing "Swap with Phoenix she's big enough to carry the berry case and you can bring the med-kit"

Nuri nodded and dropped the berry case on the floor before trotting back over to the bag to get the med-kit from Phoenix, Phoenix went over and picked up the berry case shooting Simon a dirty look, Simon laughed again a small twitch again betraying the pain it caused "I know it's heavier but Nuri's still a kit"

With all the tools he required set out in front of him Simon set about trying to help Ember, he opened the med-kit and pulled out a small pair of tweezers and a small white cloth. Using the cloth he wiped the blood off Ember's back, inspecting it once it was clean he saw four large splinters sticking into her at odd angles along with at least six small gnashes that were slowly oozing blood, wincing at the size of the splinters embedded in his friend he carefully reached forward with the tweezers to extract them. The first three came out with no problems leaving small puncture wounds in their wake but the fourth was proving to be more difficult to remove it had gone in almost parallel to her body and Simon knew that just yanking splinters like that out is one of the most painful things you can do, he settled for carefully wiggling it backwards easing it out of Ember's back.

"How much longer is this going to take" Holly whined from the side of the road

Simon snapped back "As long as it takes!" whilst Phoenix and Nuri both shot her dirty looks, Simon turned back to Ember and finally managed to remove the last splinter throwing it to a side he quickly clicked open his berry case and pulled out a handful of Oran berries and his pestle of mortar from it's pocket in the lid of the case placing the berries in the pestle he began to grind them up into a thick blue paste. With the paste the right consistency he put it to a side and picked up the towel he had asked for, he lovingly dried Ember off making sure not to apply too much pressure when he got to her back tossing the now blood stained and filthy towel aside he began gently applying the Oran paste to Ember's back with his fingers.

"What's that for?" Holly piped up

Simon smiled a little; at least it was a sensible question this time, "It works like an antiseptic and a coagulant"

"Huh?" Holly asked a little lost

Simon sighed and resumed administering the paste "It kills germs and helps the blood clot" he explained again in simple English

"Oh" Holly replied nodding slowly to show she accepted his explanation

Simon finished administering the paste and reached back into the med-kit pulling out a roll and bandages "Nuri come over here please" he called out after unrolling a decent length of the bandage, Nuri trotted over curious over what Simon wanted from her. "Nuri use scratch to cut this please" Simon asked holding the bandage taunt in front of him Nuri nodded and used her sharp claws to neatly cut the length of bandage "Thanks" Simon said turning back to Ember. He quickly bound the bandage around her midsection a tied it at the top so she would be unable to take it off herself "Okay time to wake her up" he said

"Quiiil ava Quiil avaaa?" Phoenix asked curious

"Well" Simon explained "I normally wake her by splashing her with water but considering the circumstance that would be cruel"

"Eeev veeee vee?" Nuri asked

"Well this time I'll use the Muk extract" Simon said "You may want to hold your breath" he added as an afterthought pulling a small metal case out of the med-kit he took a deep breath then took the lid off and help the deep purple substance under Ember's nose. Ember woke with a start and recoiled from the stench crying out in pain at the sudden movement, Simon smiled and quickly closed the lid of the extract throwing everything back into his bag he quickly shouldered it then went back over to Ember and scooped her up.

"Vuuul pix" Ember managed to whisper

Simon frowned "I'm sorry? What are you sorry for?" he looked down and his expression softened, Ember was sleeping in his arms turning to the rest of his group he spoke up "Come on guys we're going to have to make good time if we want to get to Sandgem tomorrow" with that said he turned around and started walking shifting Ember's weight so he could carry her more easily while still giving her a comfortable sleeping position.


	23. Chapter 23

**Wildfire: Chapter 23**

Simon carried Ember for the rest of the day as she drifted in and out of consciousness, even though he knew she was only tired Simon always seemed just a little happier when Ember was awake and disappointment flashed across his face every time she drifted off again. They made fairly good time but they couldn't make up for the time they had lost with the battle and its aftermath. Simon spotting a clearing pulled everyone over "This should do" he announced glancing around the patch of open ground

"Quiiil ava quiiiil avaaa?" Phoenix asked

"I know this isn't the campsite I had planned but we'll just have to move extra fast tomorrow if we want to get to Sandgem in good time" he smiled a patted Phoenix on the head, he walked over to the middle of the clearing and sat down "Hey Nuri can you do me a favour"

Nuri padded over to where Simon was sitting "eeev vee?" she asked

Simon smiled "I just need you to open my pack and pull the sleeping bag out please"

Nuri nodded and went behind Simon grabbing the bag's zipper in her mouth she yanked it open with a few sharp shakes of her head, with the bag open she quickly located the black bag that Simon's sleeping bag was in and pulled it out of the pack. With the bag in her mouth she trotted back round to Simon her tail wagging proudly as she deposited it at his feet "Thanks" Simon said scratching her behind an ear as he talked "Now you may need Phoenix's help for this part, but can you set the sleeping bag up"

"Vee?" Nuri asked tilting her head to a side

"I want a place to set Ember down" Simon explained smiling

Nuri nodded and turned her attention to the sleeping bag, between her and Phoenix they managed to open the bag and spread the sleeping bag out in fairly short order, Holly was looking on feeling fairly left out and wondering why Simon hadn't asked her to help with the task since she was the only other person here with opposable thumbs, she finally reached the conclusion he just doesn't want me to have to work and sat there with a small smug grin on her face. With the sleeping bag laid out Simon gently placed Ember on it making sure she was comfortable he placed a hand on her head "I'll be right back girl don't worry" with that said he stood up, glancing down at Ember he could of sworn the peaceful grin on her face had grown larger.

"Right back? Where are you going?" Holly spoke up snatching the question from everyone's mouth

"Simple" Simon replied acknowledging Holly for the first time since Ember was injured "I need to find a water source since there's not one nearby" Holly looked a little lost as if she didn't quite understand the importance of a fresh water source "Phoenix, Nuri" Simon continued "can you guys come with me, this can double as a scavenging trip and you'll have an easier time finding water than me since your senses are so much sharper"

Nuri and Phoenix nodded and took their positions on either side of Simon "Wait!" Holly called out fear flashing across her features "What about me?"

"Holly I need you to keep an eye of Ember for me" Simon said seriously "and you can use this time to set up your tent if Ember doesn't wake up" Holly nodded accepting her task, Simon turned and headed off into the forest with Phoenix and Nuri following at his feet, he felt a twinge of doubt about leaving Ember in the care of Holly who hadn't really earned any trust yet but he was sure Ember could take care of herself if the worse should happen. Simon stopped at the edge of the clearing and looked down "So who's going to lead the way"

After a brief discussion Nuri stepped forward, despite being the youngest member of the group she had the most experience with foraging and the sharpest sense of smell "Veee eeev vee" she declared before padding off into the underbrush

"I've never heard of Pumkin berries" Simon replied "Are you sure?"

"Veee eeev veee!" Nuri replied defensively

"Alright, alright" Simon backtracked "I trust your nose, but what does this berry have to do with water?"

"Quiil avaaaa quiiil ava quil" Phoenix explained carefully

"Okay but even if it only grows in wet soil that doesn't mean there's a viable stream" Simon smiled and shook his head "No I've got to stop being pessimistic, it's the best lead we've got so lets go"

Nuri and Phoenix nodded and they quickly set off with Nuri leading them on a winding path through the undergrowth.

* * *

Back at camp Holly had just started trying to set up her tent, she had no idea what she was doing; her preparation for this trip had consisted of sending a servant out to buy all the gear she would need for a two day trip. In retrospect she probably should have at least tried to set up the tent before she set out, she sighed and returned to trying to wrestle the support poles together finally throwing them down in frustration when they sprung apart for the umpteenth time. She glanced over at Ember who was still resting peacefully on the sleeping bag Simon had had set out for her and couldn't help feel a small twinge of jealousy, no matter what she did Simon always put his Pokemon first, it almost seemed a pity to tear apart such a close friendship. She sighed and shook her head, those thoughts were counterproductive, turning her attention back to the parts that she was sure would become a tent eventually she picked up the support poles and returned to the task of slotting the stubborn pieces of metal together.

* * *

In the forest although the thick undergrowth had forced them to take a rather haphazard path Nuri had finally located the Pumkin berry bush. Nuri pointed at the bush with her nose nudging it's thick leaves "So this is a Pumkin bush?" Simon asked intrigued

Nuri nodded "Veee eeev vee"

"I'll just check that" Simon replied gently parting the thick bush he peered through the gap, his face lighting up as he was greeted by the sight of a small pond, the water seemed to be clear and the churned up edges betrayed this as a popular water hole for the local wildlife "Yep your right" Simon smiled as he withdrew his head from the bush and gently patted Nuri's head

"Veee eev veee veee" Nuri responded playfully

Simon laughed "No I never doubted you, but don't let it go to your head" he turned to the bush noting the fat yellow berries that clung to the end of it's braches in small bundles "I guess we should gather a few Pumkin berries whilst we're here" he reached out a plucked a berry off the tree surprised by it's weight "I wonder what it tastes like" he muttered out loud popping the berry into his mouth

Phoenix and Nuri exchanged amused looks knowing all to well exactly what a Pumkin berry tasted like "Eeeev vee eeev eev?" Nuri wondered

Phoenix shook her head "Quiiil avaaa quiil" she sniggered a little and they both turned their attention to Simon waiting for his reaction to the berry

Simon bit into the berry, the outer shell cracked and a copious quantity of the berry's juice squirted into his mouth. His face puckered up as he hastily swallowed the offending berry "Ahhhh!" he cried "It's so sour!" Phoenix and Nuri both giggled quietly trying to conceal their amusement from Simon.

"Quiil ava quiil?" Phoenix asked innocently trying to keep a straight face

Simon turned on the Pokemon "That was a mean trick" he said his eyes betraying his humour "So how many of these should we get?" he asked turning back to the bush

"Eev" Nuri suggested

Simon nodded pulling ten of the biggest berries he could see off the bush and depositing them into the berry case before continuing forward, following the bush, looking for a path that would lead them to waters edge.


	24. Chapter 24

**Wildfire: Chapter 24**

Simon soon found one of the many worn tracks that lead down to the waters edge. They were soon standing down by the water's edge, Simon leant down and cupped his hands bringing some water to his lips to check how it tasted "It's fine" he declared with a huge grin on his face.

Nuri and Phoenix nodded and stuck their muzzles into the clear water gulping it down greedily.

Simon shook his head laughing "I wish I could do that sometimes"

Reaching into his backpack he pulled out his two litre flask and quickly re-filled it. Turning back to Phoenix and Nuri he placed the flask back in his bag "Can you guys gather some supplies I've got some things to clean"

Nuri and Phoenix nodded their agreement then headed off into the dense undergrowth. Simon watched them until he could no longer make out their figures before turning back to the business on hand following the edge of the pond he made his way to where a small stream flowed gently off into the distance lest his cleaning pollute the watering hole. Placing his bag on the ground he pulled out the dirty plates from lunch along with the two bloody towels he had used to clean up Ember and the tweezers he had used to remove the splinters, he sighed "This may take a while" he said absentmindedly

* * *

Back at the campsite Holly had been having a little more luck with her tent; she had finally forced the support beams together into a shape that vaguely resembled the cross they were supposed to form. Now she was face with the problem of the guide ropes, every time she had one in the previous one would pop out of its hole, however she had to admit that pounding the small metal pegs into the ground was somewhat therapeutic. A tired yawn caught her attention and Holly whirled around to see Ember stretching out as she climbed to her feet, Ember glanced around spotting Holly but no-one else "Vuul pix vuuul pixx vuuul?!" she demanded angrily turning on Holly

Holly stifled a giggle before replying "He's off finding water"

Ember calmed down and settled back on her haunches but her sceptical glare remained on Holly

"Of course" Holly continued her face twisting into a look of contempt "He'd probably be better off without you"

Ember jumped to her feet angrily "Vuuul piix vuuul!" she angrily shouted back, only the knowledge that Simon probably wouldn't appreciate returning to a crispy fried Holly kept her from just torching the stupid girl on the spot.

"I mean you can't even win a fight" Holly continued unaffected by Ember's blatant anger "Simon took a whole two hours out of his time to fix you up after the fight" she exaggerated "You're the reason we're so far behind schedule and not only that it was the burn you inflicted that kept Simon in the hospital" she sneered watching Ember's face.

Ember was determined not to let Holly get to her, yet she seemed to reach inside and send all of her insecurities back at her. Ember struggled to maintain a straight face, she would not give Holly the pleasure of seeing her cry.

Holly gave up on Ember a little disappointed that she hadn't been able to get through to her with her jibes, she was certain that she would at least get a reaction out of her. With a sigh she turned back to her tent pounding the guy ropes in with slightly more force than necessary.

Ember sniffles quietly, that stupid girl she shouldn't be able to get to me, these thoughts flash through her head and she finally makes up her mind; one more crack at her expense or one more go at any of them and she would talk to Simon and get rid of her. Smiling as she thought about it, yes three strikes and she would be gone, that was fair and there was no way she could justify any of it. Feeling significantly better Ember settled down to watch in quiet amusement as Holly struggled with her tent.

* * *

By the time Simon, Nuri and Phoenix returned to the campsite Holly had managed to get her tent up although it was leaning a bit to the side.

"Hey" Holly called out giving up on straightening her tent

Simon grunted a response making a b-line for Ember "Hey girl" he smiled squatting down "You feeling better"

Ember nodded happily "Vuuul pix"

"Good" Simon said standing up "Because I need that sleeping bag back soon"

Ember growled playfully as she climbed to her feet

Simon dumped his bag "I guess we should set up camp" he wandered around looking for a good place to set up their tent "Ember, Phoenix, Nuri can you guys set up the fire pit please"

They all nodded at Simon and trotted over to the centre of the small field where they started digging the shallow pit for the fire, whilst his Pokemon worked on the fire pit Simon quickly set up his tent with a speed that only comes with practice.

In no time at all Simon and the Pokemon had their tent set up and a fire blazing merrily away. Nuri and Simon were cooking a simple stew, Simon had started cooking and Nuri had shown interest so now he was teaching her how to cook, ignoring the fact she would find it difficult at best to stir properly with a spoon, Nuri was listening intently and helping Simon out any way she could although at this point her help mostly consisted of fetching ingredients. Nearby Phoenix and Ember were chatting, Simon wasn't really listening but from the snippets he picked up he guessed Phoenix was asking for combat advice there was a lot of words that Simon didn't really understand and he wasn't really trying to listen however so he could have been wrong.

"How long until the stew is ready?" Holly asked, being the only one without anything to do she was getting quite bored waiting for her meal to cook

"Well with Nuri's help I would imagine only a few minutes" Simon replied patiently patting Nuri on the head

"veee" Nuri said happy that her help had been acknowledged

Simon tasted a small portion "Hmm, need more pepper. What do you think?" he lowered the spoon down to Nuri's level and she lapped it up quickly before nodding in agreement.

* * *

Simon smiled as he held open the tent flap for everyone; the meal had been a success although Holly had been sitting a bit too close to him for comfort. He settled down for a good night's sleep only to be woken by Ember gently nudging him about an hour later. "Vuuul vuul piix?" Ember asked carefully

"Sure we can talk." Simon replied frowning slightly, something was eating at Ember "But we should go outside so we don't wake the others"

Ember smiled weakly as they headed out into the crisp night air, Simon sat down and patted his lap "Ok what did you want to talk about"

Ember gratefully leapt into Simon lap "Vuuul piiix vuuul piix?" she asked fearfully

"Of course I still want you around! Holly you're my best friend, I'd want you around even if you couldn't battle at all" Simon replied zealously

Ember smiled "Vuuul piix vulll piix?" she just had to check something that Holly had told her

Simon sighed "Yes it was, but who told you…." He trailed off coming to the only sensible conclusion he could draw "Holly" he whispered under his breath

Ember hung her head in shame "Vuuul piix vuuul piix" she apologized a few tears falling from her eyes

Simon tenderly wiped the tears from Ember's eyes "It's not your fault" he reassured her "Trust me what you did was far better than what would have happened if I had gotten bitten" he looked Ember in the eyes suddenly dead serious "Now tell me what else had Holly done"


	25. Chapter 25

**Wildfire: Chapter 25**

Ember looked down "Vuuul piix vuul piix vuul vuuul vul piiiix" she carefully explained

Simon nodded "Why didn't you just come to me?" he asked feeling slightly hurt that Ember wouldn't tell him her problems

"Vuuul piix piix vuul piiiix" Ember admitted shamefully

Simon sighed and shook his head "I've told you this time and time again, your far more important to me than anyone, you should have just told me you didn't like her and I wouldn't have agreed to come with her"

"Vuuul piix vuul?" Ember asked

Simon's face hardened "I'm going to get rid of her; I won't let anyone get away with hurting anyone I care about" his clenched and gently smoking fists clear evidence of his anger.

"Vuuul" Ember said gently, licking Simon's face

"No problem" Simon said quickly slipping back to his usual self "But you still should have come to me earlier"

Ember nodded "piix"

Simon smiled and gently petted her head "Already forgiven, now shall we get some sleep?" he frowned slightly "I have a feeling morning is going to be…interesting"

Ember nodded and padded back into the tent with Simon following slightly behind, they quickly settled down with Ember curling up next to Simon.

* * *

Simon awoke with the sun, sitting up her rubbed his eyes and yawned steeling himself for what was to come. "Hey Ember, Phoenix, Nuri" he called out softly "Wake up girls I've got something to tell you"

The Pokemon yawned and stretched their tired muscles as they woke up "Vuuul piix vuul piix vul piiix piix?" Ember asked

Simon smiled and nodded "Yes it is"

"Eev veee veee eeev?" Nuri asked curious

"Ember told me about Holly so I'm going to get rid of her" Simon explained "That's what this has to do with Holly" he smiled and patted Nuri's head "I just need your help if she decides not to leave"

With that he pushed open the tent "Now you guys go get breakfast started, I'm sure you've learnt enough from last night to do it well" he smiled at Nuri

"Veee eev vee" Nuri responded jokingly

Simon laughed as he pulled the tent flap shut "Hey you liked my cooking last night. I'll be out as soon as I'm dressed"

Nuri turned to the pot that Simon had left out, between her and Phoenix they took it to the small pond a filled it halfway with water before dragging it back. Whilst they were busy with that Ember had gathered up some firewood and had a roaring fire blazing under her careful supervision.

Simon smiled as he pulled open the tent flap, all three of the Pokemon were working together to move the pot into it's place above the fire although Nuri was obviously much more nervous than the others not being a fire type the fire was causing her no small amount of discomfort.

"I see you've got this covered" Simon said smiling

None of the Pokemon had noticed Simon leaving the tent so his voice made them jump slightly "Quiiil avaa quiil" Phoenix said as she heaved the large pot into place

Simon laughed and shook his head "Well consider it revenge for the berries then, I'll take care of the tent you guys can handle breakfast"

Simon quickly deconstructed the tent glancing over his shoulders intermittently to check that everything was fine, fairly soon a wonderful smell wafted across the clearing. Smiling Simon rolled up the ground sheet and turned to his Pokemon "Smells great" he called out "What is it?"

"Vuuul piix piix vuuul" Ember shouted back happily

Simon paused "Rabbit stew?"

Ember nodded "vul, vuul piix?"

"No, no. I heard you. It's just where did you get some rabbit?" Simon replied

Ember grinned at Simon flashing her sharp vulpine teeth

"Right of course" Simon laughed at himself for not realising

Walking over to his Pokemon after finishing attaching his tent back on his bag his face became serious "So, do we do Holly then breakfast or breakfast then Holly?"

"Quiiil ava" Phoenix gave her opinion

"Vuul piiix" Ember agreed

"Veee eev vee" Nuri said agreeing with the others

"Fine food the business" Simon agreed "So is it finished" he leant over the pot and inhaled deeply "It certainly smells good"

Simon sat down with the Pokemon on either side of him enjoying the stew they had made, stew wasn't really a breakfast food but he wasn't really fussed by this "I should get you to cook more often" he joked

"Vuul piix vuul piix piix pix" Ember laughed shaking her head

Simon laughed "My cooking is just as good as this" he appealed to Phoenix and Nuri for support but they both pulled faces and turned their heads.

Simon shook his head "It's a sad day when a trainer is betrayed by his own Pokemon"

Ember turned and pounced on Simon throwing him onto his back as she stood on his chest and licked his face furiously, Phoenix and Nuri soon joined in holding down his arms and licking his hands. Simon was squirming and laughing uproariously "Alright, alright I give" he gasped out

All the noise had woken Holly up "What's going on?" she asked blearily

The Pokemon quickly got off Simon and stood in front of him in a defensive line as he climbed to his feet "Ah good, Holly I need to talk to you"

"What?" Holly asked

"We're going to split up, you were mistreating my Pokemon and I won't stand for that" his face was dead serious "We can't travel together anymore"

"Wait! What? Who told you.." Holly stumbled "It was that stupid fox wasn't it!" she pointed accusingly at Ember

Simon's frown deepened "I will not stand for someone talking to Ember like that!" he snapped

"What is it with you and Ember!" Holly shouted back "Do you love her or something?"

Simon and Ember looked at each other a faint blush on both of their cheeks before they both turned their heads to hide their blushes. "That's it goodbye!" Simon shouted his eyes flashing red. Grabbing his backpack he stormed back onto the road with his Pokemon only a short distance behind, leaving a stunned Holly standing by herself in the clearing.

Holly was stunned, she was certain she had hit the nail on the head. Simon did indeed love Ember, she smirked, well if she couldn't have Simon she sure as hell wouldn't let that stupid fox have him "I wonder what the police would have to say about that" she said not really directing it at anyone. With an evil smile still plastered on her face she flipped open her phone and made two phone calls, one to the police and one to her chauffeur.


	26. Chapter 26

**Wildfire: Chapter 26**

"Can you smell the sea air" Simon smiled as he breathed in deeply

None of the Pokemon needed to breathe deeply since their noses where far more sensitive than Simon's but nevertheless they mimicked his action

Nuri jumped, her fir bristling as a Wingull swooped low with a loud screech.

"Don't worry" Simon tried not to laugh "It's not after you, just watch"

Nuri shot annoyed looks at Phoenix and Ember who where both giggling softly and an appreciative look at Simon for not laughing too before turning her attention back to the Wingull, which plucked a Wurmple off a branch of a nearby tree before climbing back into the sky.

Simon glanced up at the sun, "It's almost lunch time" he declared happily as they walked "Do you guys want to continue into Sandgem then have lunch or stop for a picnic here"

"Eev eev veeeee veee ve?" Nuri asked

"You want to panic on the what?" Simon asked confused

"Veee eev vee veee ve" Nuri replied laughing and shaking her head

"Oh!" Simon laughed and shook his head "Picnic, but where did you say?"

"Vuuul piix vuul" Ember said exasperated

Simon nodded and watched as she quickly and crudely wrote a word in the dirt of the road, "Beech? No that can't be it" he muttered "Ah! Beach!" he said happily

Ember, Nuri and Phoenix all nodded "Eev?" Nuri asked her head tilted as she did her best puppy dog eyes

Simon groaned, he hated it when Ember did that since he always caved and apparently Nuri's look was no less effective "We'll see what the others have to say" he replied "I like the idea though" Simon and Nuri turned to Ember and Phoenix, Ember nodded her approval but Phoenix shook her head

"Quiil avaaa quiil ava avaa!" she explained when Nuri and Ember refused to relent their questioning stares

"True" Simon agreed, he hadn't really understood the start of her complaint but there is only so much on a beach that gets everywhere "But still it's fun and I'll wash the sand out afterwards if you want" he leant down and patted Phoenix's head affectionately "That is, if Ember doesn't drown me for trying" he joked as he stood back up

"Vuul piix vuul pix" Ember said thoughtfully

"Sure you will" Simon laughed as he started walking again "So beach picnic it is?"

"Vul"

"Quil"

"Eev"

"Good, alright we should be there in…" he pulled the map out of its case and quickly checked it before returning it "about an hour or two"

He laughed as Ember and Phoenix groaned "Hey you agreed to this"

"Quiil ava quiiil" Phoenix grumbled quietly

"Eeev vee" Nuri replied

"Quiil ava"

"Eeev vee"

"Quiil ava"

"Eeev vee"

"Quiil ava"

"Alright, cut it out" Simon said laughing at their childish argument

"Eeev vee" Nuri muttered sticking her tongue out at Phoenix

Phoenix growled softly but didn't respond to Nuri's childish taunt

Simon laughed shaking his head "Can you guys keep an eye out for any berries growing near the path since I doubt you'll find much on the beach"

* * *

By the time they had reached the edge of town Simon was carrying an armful of assorted berries "Tell you what" he suggested "You grab my pot and we'll fill it with water and stew these berries for a mystery stew" he laughed "How does that sound?"

"Quiiiil ava qui?" Phoenix groaned obviously not having a good day

"Yes more stew" Simon laughed "It's easy and quick to make so we have it a lot" he thought about it for a second "and anyway it is technically a soup."  
Phoenix rolled her eyes but didn't say anything

They quickly cut through town and make their way to the beach earning quite a few stares from the townsfolk in the process.

"Hmm no firewood" Simon said dropping the last few berries into the pot

Ember groaned knowing exactly what that meant "Vuuul piix vuul" she complained

"I know it's boring" Simon apologized "But if you want to eat then you better get started" he said light-heartedly

Ember mumbled a few rude comments as she positioned herself near the pot, settling down she shot a stream of fire at the pot to heat it up

"Thanks" Simon said "It should only take a few minutes with this heat"

A small crowd gathered to watch the strange spectacle, Simon was sitting close the Ember with Nuri and Phoenix sitting on either side of him watching Ember work with a mix of jealousy and humour

"Quiil ava avaa quil avaaaa" Phoenix joked

Ember stopped her continual flame and spat a few embers at Phoenix before returning to her task.

Simon laughed, "Better be careful Phoenix last time I got Ember she set me on fire"

A few people watching backed off carefully at this while others gasped at the casual way he had spoken

"Eeev veee veee eev?" Nuri gasped through her laughing

"Nah" Simon shook his head smiling "It took me forever to regrow my hair though"

"Vuuul piix vul" Ember mumbled around her attack

"I so didn't!" Simon shouted at her "I said you were getting pudgy, that doesn't warrant burning my hair off!"

"Quiil ava quillll" Phoenix commented through her own giggles

The crowd had grown whilst Simon was having a heated talk with his Pokemon and quite a few mutters ran through the crowd about how he was doing it

Ember nodded and stopped her attack and trotted over to Simon blowing a tiny flame in front of his face. Simon didn't so much as twitch, he had total faith in Ember "Your not going to get me like that" he smiled stroking her a few times "Thanks for cooking" he jumped up "Now let's eat!"

He pulled some plastic bowls from his pack and ladled the stew into them, making sure that Ember's portion was bigger than everyone else's. Walking back with the first two bowls he noticed the crowd, which now numbered about thirty people "Hi" he smiled giving a small wave "You waiting for something?"

He continued forward and placed the bowls in front of Nuri and Phoenix who were both eyeing the crowd nervously "Don't worry" he whispered as he placed their food down "You'll be fine"

"Sir?" a small boy had gathered the courage to speak out

"Yes" Simon said standing up and heading back to the pot for his and Ember's portions as though the crowd wasn't there

"Were you talking to your Pokemon?" the boy spoke out again, still hidden amongst the press of people all waiting for Simon's answer

"Yes" Simon said as though it was nothing, whispers and mutters ran through the crowd at his response, he handed Ember her portion and settled himself down on the sand in the middle of the Pokemon "So much for a quiet picnic" he joked

"Vuuul piix vul piix?" Ember suggested mischievously

Simon laughed "No, I don't think they would take kindly to a flamethrower"

"Vuuul piix vul!" Ember responded

Simon laughed "I didn't mean it like that and you know it" he tapped her on the nose and shovelled a portion of the soup into his mouth "Hmm not bad"

"But how?" an elderly gentleman stepped forward, he had grey hair, a thick moustache and was wearing a brown trench coat over a shirt and tie

"Hi professor" Simon said looking up "Come over here" he gestured for the man to come forward

The gentleman stepped out of the crowd and made his way over to where Simon and his Pokemon were sitting, eating their lunch.

"Ember, Phoenix, Nuri meet Professor Rowan" Simon smiled warmly as he shovelled the last of his stew into his mouth

Professor Rowan sat down on the sand opposite Simon "You said you talk to your Pokemon like it was nothing" he said

"And?" Simon replied simply, glancing around he noticed everyone had finished lunch and the crowd was beginning to disperse since this was becoming a private conversation "That was pretty good" he smiled "We need to do that again"

"Quiiil avaaa quiiil quiil" Phoenix joked

Simon laughed and Nuri giggled but Ember rolled her eyes "Look it's not stew, it's soup!" Simon shot back "I thought we went over this!"

"Quiil ava" Phoenix replied rolling her eyes

"Soup!" Simon replied

"ava!"

Professor Rowan coughed to draw attention "See you're talking to them again, how are you doing it?"  
"I learnt" Simon explained "It's not that hard"

Professor Rowan sighed "Yes it is" he shook his head "I've been trying to build a translator for at least ten years but it doesn't work, no matter what I try the language of Pokemon is just too complex"

Simon shook his head "I learnt to speak to Ember in" he paused "What was it again? Five or six months?"

"Vuul piiix vuuul vuul" Ember replied

Simon tapped Ember's nose again "I know, I know, but when could I hold my first conversation?"

"piix" Ember replied almost immediately

"Yeah, that sounds about right" Simon turned back to Professor Rowan "It took six months to learn the basics"

"Quiil avaa quiil" Phoenix teased

"Fine!" Simon amended "Some of the basics, I just learnt the stuff I needed to say alright, it's not my fault things like the sea never came up!"

"Can you come back to my lab for a while.."

"Simon." Simon supplied "My name is Simon, and I would be happy too" he smiled "I was going to visit you after lunch anyway, just let me clean up and we'll meet you there"

Professor Rowan nodded "Ok see you in a bit" he stood up and brushed himself off before wandering off the beach, back into town.


	27. Chapter 27

**Wildfire: Chapter 27**

Simon stood outside the lab looking up at the large wooden doors, it would have been quite intimidating had he not already met the professor, with a quick glance back at the Pokemon he knocked on the door "Professor, it's me!" he called out

Nuri's ears twitched as she followed the footsteps resonating from inside the building "Veee eev vee" she complained

Simon shook his head "He's an old man Nuri; you can't expect him to sprint to the door can you?"

A short while later the door was opened and Professor Rowan greeted them warmly "Ah, Simon thank you for coming" he put his arm round Simon's shoulders and ushered him in "Come in, come in"

Simon was led into the lab, the Pokemon trailing a little behind him and the Professor

"Here we are" Professor Rowan said "I'm sorry it's a little messy but I don't really have the time to clean up"

Simon nodded understandingly as he glanced around the large room, a little messy? This room looked like it had been ripped apart by a pack of Pichu! The three tables in the middle of the room were covered in papers, half eaten meals and assorted Pokeballs in various stages of construction or deconstruction. The desks that skirted the edge of the room were in slightly better shape, there were no left over's lying on them although they too were buried under mountains of paperwork. In fact Simon could see only two relatively clear places, the computer and a very outdated teleporter.

"Sit, sit." Professor Rowan gestured to a row of stools as he sat down in a faded red swivel chair in front of his computer.

Simon sat on the stool, Nuri and Quilava taking their usual places on the stools either side of him while ember jumped into his lap

"So," Professor Rowan began "You said you wanted to see me?"

Simon nodded "I came for two reasons really" he sighed "Firstly I would like to sign up for the League challenge"

"Certainly" Professor Rowan agreed "Just hand over your pokedex for a second"

Simon nodded and pulled the small red device out of a pocket of his bag, handing it to the professor "Thanks" he smiled

"No problem" Professor Rowan assured him as he placed Simon's pokedex in a small reader attached to his computer, a small LED on the reader blinked red twice before turning green. Professor Rowan smiled as he handed the pokedex back to Simon "There we go, you're all signed up, I wish you luck with the adventure"

"Thanks" Simon replied politely

"Now you said you came to see me for two reasons?" Professor Rowan asked settling back into his chair

Simon nodded swallowing "Yeah, Nurse Joy in Jubilife recommended I came to you with this"

"What?" Professor Rowan was intrigued now; it wasn't often that a Nurse Joy wouldn't know what was going on

"Well" Simon scratched the back of his head not quite sure how to break it to him "Potions, Full heals and other things like that, well, they work on me"

"What!" Professor yelled his eyes going wide with shock

"Not only that" Simon continued "I heal really quickly" he placed a hand over his abdomen "Less than a month ago I sustained three bullet wounds." he smiled reassuringly

Professor Rowan was staring at Simon in disbelief "If what you're saying is true… then…"

"Quiil avaaa quiil!" Phoenix shouted angrily

"Shhh, calm down" Simon soothed her "He wasn't calling me a liar he's just having a hard time accepting it."

Professor Rowan turned to Simon "Is it possible for you to stay in town tonight?"

"Yes. Why?" Simon queried

"I would like to do a few tests if that's okay with you" Professor Rowan said carefully afraid he would decline

"Sure" Simon nodded "If it will get answers then I'm game. But what does this have to do with me staying the night in town?"

"Well it's getting late" Professor Rowan explained "I'm assuming you will want to get some food and book into a hotel, so we can start the testing tomorrow" he smiled waiting for Simon's response

Simon nodded, "Sounds like a plan, what time should I turn up tomorrow?"

"Anytime, but preferably around ten would be great."

Simon nodded "Ten it is" he stood up stretching his legs slightly before heading towards the door "Thanks for everything professor"

"No problem" Professor Rowan assured him before turning back to his computer, deciding to contact the Jubilife Joy for any other information on this boy.

* * *

Ember was muttering to herself as they left the lab, "What's wrong?" Simon asked carefully "You don't want me to go back tomorrow do you?" he continued

Ember shook her head

"Don't worry Ember, he won't do anything to hurt me" he smiled calmly "and anyway you guys will all be there"

Ember nodded satisfied that Simon would be safe; Nuri and Phoenix both wore similar relived looks.

"Now what sort of hotel shall we go to?" Simon asked "Remember we got a refund from the hotel we booked in Jubilife so we can go posh."

"Vul vul vul!" Ember chanted

Phoenix nodded agreeing with Ember "Quil, quiil avaaa quiil!"

"Eeev veee eeeev!" Nuri declared happily, energetically jumping around

Simon laughed but turned to Phoenix "Well… I don't know I'm kinda in the mood for stew tonight" he joked "How about you two, Nuri? Ember?"

"Piiix" Ember agreed giggling as she nodded her head

"Ve" Nuri said joining in on the joke

"Avaa" Phoenix grumbled glaring at Ember and Nuri

"Don't worry Phoenix you guys will pick your own meals" he smiled and patted her head as they walked back towards the beach front searching for a good hotel.

* * *

Simon sighed contentedly as he flopped down on the comfy bed "I'm glad we got this room" he happily declared

"Vul" Ember agreed jumping up next to him and curling up for a snooze

Nuri followed suit jumping up onto the bed so she could sleep too, she settled down next to Ember and gave only a small surprised yelp when Ember draped her tails over her curled up form.

Simon beamed at the sight before turning his attention to Phoenix "Aren't you sleepy too?"

"Quiiil, ava avaaaa ava quiiiil" Phoenix replied remembering his promise

Simon laughed "Alright, I'll give you your bath" he glanced over at Ember and Nuri again "But can we not wake them"

Phoenix nodded not particularly bothered about it

"Ok wait here I'll run your bath" he walked over to the door to the bathroom and slipped in.

Simon gave a low whistle as he took in the sight of the bathroom; it was almost as big as his bedroom back at home! A massive bath dominated the room, it was raised about floor height and had steps leading up to the edge looking in Simon saw it was gently sloped giving one deep and one shallow end. "So this is the Pokemon bath?" he questioned. Without giving it another thought he pushed down on a small knob next to the taps, this lowered the plug into position, and turned the hot water tap up to full blast and flicked a small switch on the side that would heat the bath up to almost boiling "I guess they must get quite a few fire types" he smiled almost tempted to flick the second switch and get Phoenix to jump into frigid water.

It took only three minutes to fill the tub; he quickly shut off the tap and went to fetch Phoenix the humidity of the room bothering him.

"Hey Phoenix!" he called softly "Bath's ready."

Phoenix nodded and quickly slipped into the room with a grateful "Quiil"

Simon smiled and wandered over to the bath too "It should be hot enough for you" he smiled

Phoenix touched the water tentatively before gratefully sliding into the water "Quiil avaaa quiil" she thanked him

"I hope so with the price I paid to get this room" Simon replied light-heartedly, he leaned down and reached forward

"Quiil avaaa quiiil ava?" Phoenix stammered hurriedly

" I'm going to wash you like I promised" Simon replied confused

"Ava quiil ava!" Phoenix cried out

"Huh? Burnt? Nah it's not hot enough for that, I've bathed Ember in water hotter than this before" to prove his point he thrust one of his arms into the water, wincing slightly at the sudden temperature change

Phoenix was confused by this but decided to let it go, she would get her answers tomorrow when Simon went to see Professor Rowan.

Simon reached forward and began to gently rub Phoenix down, removing the gritty sand that clung to her fur.

A loud knocking interrupted their calm, Phoenix growled with annoyance at the interruption as Simon picked her up and walked to the door carrying her, scalding water dripping off her sopping fur "Alright, alright I'm coming." he replied as another loud knock sounded "Not so loud! You'll wake Nuri and Ember!" he said slightly annoyed.


	28. Chapter 28

**Wildfire: Chapter 28**

Simon reached out for the door, mumbling graphic punishments for waking Ember or Nuri under his breath.

He opened the door, his face turning from anger to confusion as he saw two police officers standing in the corridor. There was one male and one female officer; the girl had long auburn hair and deep green eyes, the male had short black hair, stubble covering his cheek and alert blue eyes. They both looked in their mid thirties and they both wore serious looks as they sized Simon up.

"What can I do for you officers?" Simon asked politely, wondering what they were doing here

The two officers exchanged confused looks; this kid wasn't acting like someone who had done something illegal.

"Simon Reglamar you are hereby placed under arrest, please hand over your Pokemon and com quietly" the female officer moved to grab Phoenix out of his hands

"Wait!" Simon called out "Don't do that!" he shifted his posture to protect Phoenix, whose eyes where wide with fear.

"Look we won't hurt her" the female snapped her hand darting forward

"It's not that!" Simon called out "She's…" his explanation was cut off as the officer's hand touched Phoenix's boiling hot fur

With a screech she jerked her hand back clutching at it and blowing on it in an attempt to reduce the searing pain from the large burn on her palm.

"I tried to warn you…" Simon began only to be cut off by the second officer

"How dare you attack a police officer, assault of an officer is a serious offence!"

Simon clenched his fists, which were beginning to smoke gently, placing Phoenix on the ground carefully "Go find the others and wake them please" he said gently. He turned on the officer "It wasn't an attack, I was bathing her and she was soaking! I tried to warn her but neither of you would listen to me!"

"Then why weren't you burnt!" the officer replied his voice getting louder

Simon shrugged "Don't know, I was going to find out tomorrow." He turned to the female officer who was still blowing on her hand "There's a sink in the other room, go soak your hand that should help."

With a grateful but suspicious nod she headed off towards the bathroom following Simon's advice "Come on!" the remaining officer exclaimed, he was a little bewildered by Simon's kindness towards his partner but mostly angry at his obvious ploy "You expect me to believe that you don't get burned from boiling water!"

Simon shrugged again "I guess I wouldn't believe it either" he mused, the officer's hot temper beginning to wear on his nerves "Touch my shirt."

"What!"

"I was holding Phoenix against it and I don't think it would have cooled that much" Simon explained

"Fine" the officer huffed, her reached out and touched Simon's t-shirt quickly jerking back when he felt how hot it was "Wha… What are you?!"

Simon sighed, he was getting tired of someone else asking the questions he kept asking himself "Look can we sit down and talk?" he asked gently

The officer gave an exasperated huff, this kid was really confusing him why was he being so nice to his arresting officers.

"Sounds good" a female voice announced as the female officer emerged from the bathroom "Oh, and thanks for the advice it did help."

They all sat down, Simon sitting across from the two officers with a soft padding noise Phoenix, Nuri and Ember entered the room they sat in a line in front of Simon as if to guard him all eyeing the police suspiciously.

"So why are you here?" Simon asked, wanting to know what he was under arrest for

"There's a warrant for your arrest," the female officer spoke up "you are suspected of Pokephilia."

Simon was stunned whilst the Pokemon were wearing a strange mix of shock and wistfulness on their faces "Wait! What?"

"Look I know it's odd" she continued "I can't really see you doing something like that, can you just come quietly please it will make this all much easier."

Simon sighed "I will come quietly on one condition"

The officer's exchanged shocked glances, was Simon seriously trying to bargain with them?

"I don't want to be separated from my Pokemon." Simon continued softly

"Urrmm, I don't think we can allow that." The female officer said

"Please, I'll keep them in their balls" Simon said this whilst shooting everyone an apologetic look

"We'll see what we can do." The male officer agreed with a sigh

"Thanks" Simon said softly as he pushed himself up "So shall we get going?"

* * *

Simon smiled as he leaned against the cell wall, he had apparently been accused of having sex with Ember so that accusation would be easy enough to disprove. Not only that, but after a brief discussion Simon had been allowed to keep his Pokemon on him as long as he kept them in their balls. To make sure he didn't release his Pokemon a Growlithe had been assigned to guard him, apparently he would have to stay the night in the cell but he had been promised that the tests on Ember would be carried out first thing the next morning.

He glanced over at the Growlithe who was sitting head on paws looking utterly bored, he walked up to her "Hi" he said simply

"Grow… grow… lithe…" Growlithe stuttered as she snapped out of her stupor

Simon laughed "Do you have a name?"

"Littthhhe" Growlithe responded quickly "Grow lithhhh growww" she added sadly realising that Simon wouldn't understand her.

"hmmm Iri, that's a nice name" Simon said thoughtfully

Iri's head snapped round "Growww lithhhe?"

"You can understand me?" Simon echoed at almost exactly the same time "Yep." He said happily "Well mostly" he laughed

"Lithhe?" Iri asked

"Long story." Simon said simply

"Lithhhe growww growww." Iri replied jokingly

"Hmm good point, I guess I have got time for most of it." Simon replied smiling as he reached out and gently ran his hand over Iri's back, her fur's texture was slightly rough but pleasant.

Iri leaned into the petting subtly while waiting for Simon to continue

* * *

For those who care Iri means fire in Hebrew and Reglamar pretty much means Sea ruler in spanish (The surname comes from his father's side in case you're wondering.)

I'm a little worried about this chapter, the arrest seems weird to me so I may rewrite this bit. Please tell me if you think it needs a rewrite or not (Give a reason too please)


	29. Chapter 29

**Wildfire: Chapter 29**

"And well then I got arrested." Simon finished lamely

"Grooow lithhhe grooow! Groow groow lithhhe!" Iri demanded turning to face the cells bars

Simon laughed and placed his hand on Iri's neck "No, we're not going to escape. Firstly you would get in too much trouble if I got away and secondly I'll be able to go free tomorrow anyway after they test Ember."

Iri calmed down but still looked annoyed "Grooow lithhhe growww." she thanked Simon softly nuzzling his side

"No problem." Simon mumbled through a massive yawn

Iri giggled "Growww lithhhe growww."

"mmm" Simon mumbled "I should sleep, I just hope the others aren't too jealous of the time I spent with you tonight."

Iri giggled again as Simon leant back on the sparse bed to get some sleep "Growww lithhe." she reassured him

"I'm sure they won't." Simon agreed as he drifted off, stirring only when Iri jumped up to join him on the bed.

* * *

Simon awoke to the clanging of metal on metal "Yes?" he asked sleepily as he rubbed his eyes and stretched

The officer smiled "Officer Oak, can you hand over Ember please."

"Oak?" Simon enquired as he fumbled for Ember's ball "Are you related to Professor Oak?"

"Yeah." the officer replied "I'm a cousin on his mother's side" he took Ember's ball from Simon "Sorry about this, I talked to Jane last night and I agree you're not the sort of person to commit crimes."

"Jane?" Simon asked

"Officer from last night" Officer Oak replied casually "and my girlfriend." he added in a low confidential voice "Anyway wait here I'll be back in about an hour to let you out." he continued his voice back to normal volume

Simon laughed "Here's hoping." behind him Iri's ears drooped as she realised her new friend would be leaving soon

"Groww lithhhe grooow." she pleaded nuzzling Simon again

"I wish I could." Simon replied sincerely "You look so bored cooped up in here all the time" Iri nodded her agreement to this but found it hard to get excited after Simon's first sentence "but they will definitely notice you're missing and it will look like I stole you." he sighed

"Grooow lithe growww?" Iri asked with a flash of inspiration

Simon smiled "I'll try. But they probably won't believe me you know."

"Groow growww lithe!" Iri said fiercely

Simon laughed "I don't think you mauling them would help our case any."

Iri giggled and lay back on the bed waiting for Officer Oak to return with Ember to release Simon, Simon sat next to her gently stroking her fur as he waited.

* * *

True to his word Officer Oak returned after an hour holding Ember's ball, the smile on his face having grown a few centimetres during the break.

"You're free to go." He smiled as he tossed Ember's ball to Simon and opened the door

Simon smiled happily "Awesome" he made towards the door

"Groww lithe!" Iri demanded feeling betrayed

"I haven't forgotten." Simon sighed "I was going to talk to the commander not Officer Oak."

Iri nodded feeling a little guilty for doubting Simon "Who are you talking too?" Officer Oak asked "What were you going to ask the commander?"

"I was talking to Iri and I was going to ask about her leaving the station?" Simon replied

"Iri?" Officer Oak frowned "All I see is Ginger."

"Ginger?!" Simon asked looking at Iri and suppressing his urge to laugh

"Groow lithhe growww!" Iri defended herself

Simon laughed "I know but couldn't you have written it in the dirt or even shaken your head?"

"Growww lithhe groww grow." Iri explained

"Who are you talking too?!" Officer Oak demanded

"Iri" Simon replied pointing at her "Her name is Iri not Ginger by the way."

"You can understand her?!" Officer Oak exclaimed

"You can understand her?!" Simon echoed smiling

"Well?"

"Mostly" Simon explained shaking his hand "I can get most if it but there are some gaps, but they are easy enough to fill with guesswork."

"Bu..Wha..Buh..but that's impossible!" Officer Oak stammered

"Obviously not." Simon shrugged

Officer Oak recovered his composure quickly "What did Gin... Iri want to ask?"

"Groww lithhe growww groooow?" Iri asked cautiously, her ears flattened against her head in a submissive pose.

"What?" Officer Oak asked looking to Simon for a translation.

Simon smiled "She asked whether she could retire from police work and come with me."

"What!? Gi... Iri sorry, is that true?"

Iri nodded and barked her approval "Grooow lithhe!"

"Oh!" Simon suddenly remembered his promise to Professor Rowan, "Do you have a watch?" he asked

"Yes why?" Officer oak asked lifting the sleeve of his uniform to show simon that he did indeed have a watch

"What's the time?" Simon asked

"Around noon, why?" Officer oak responded glancing at his watch

Simon groaned in frustration "Maybe if I go soon I can still get my answers." he thought aloud

"What!?" Officer Oak demanded

"Oh right!" Simon turned to the officer smiling "professor Rowan was going to look and check to see why I can understand Pokemon, I had an appointment with him this morning but I've probably missed it now." he explained his voice full of annoyance and a little regret

"Oh." officer Oak nodded his head slowly understanding Simon's frustration "Sorry about that."

"No problem" Simon waved the apology off "It's not your fault."

"Groow lithhhe grooow growww?" Iri asked wanting an answer

Officer Oak glanced at Iri before turning to Simon for a translation

"She wanted to know whether she can go with me or not." Simon clarified, feeling that it should have been obvious what Iri wanted.

"Oh right..." Officer Oak paused "Well I don't have anything against it but like you said earlier you need to bring it up with the kennel master of the chief."

Simon nodded whilst Iri barked happily "Right then, can you lead us to whichever of those two has the best chance of saying yes." he asked laughing

"Ok then," Officer Oak replied laughing a little too "Follow me."


	30. Chapter 30

**Wildfire: Chapter 30**

"So which one are we going to?" Simon asked curious as they headed through the main body of the police station.

"Well..." Officer Oak said thoughtfully "...normally the kennel master would be the better person to ask but the chief's been in a good mood lately so we can probably milk that." he smiled

Simon laughed "That sounds like a good plan, any particular reason he's so happy lately?"

Officer Oak smiled kindly "There was a large anonymous donation to the local station the other day."

Simon and Iri both frowned the same thing coming into both of their minds

"Grooow" Iri growled angrily

"Holly..." Simon said under his breath

"What?" Officer oak asked

"Sorry, just thinking." Simon supplied

Officer Oak joked "Just don't wear yourself out."

Simon laughed "I'll be careful." he looked at Officer Oak "So are we going to have to book a meeting or can we just barge in?"

Officer Oak smiled reassuringly "Well again that depends on his mood." he sighed "I've know him to need two months notice of an appointment when he's in a really bad mood but considering his current mood he should be okay if we just walk in on him as long as he's not in meeting already."

Simon laughed "he sounds like an interesting guy."

Officer Oak nodded "He is, despite his mood swings he is very good at his job and cares about his men."

They soon came to the door to the chief's office, a large golden plaque with Chief Officer Seiei was bolted to the door.

"Seiei?" Simon asked curious

"He come from Twinleaf" Officer Oak offered by way of explanation

Simon nodded politely not really finding the explanation helpful "So are we going in?"

Officer Oak nodded and approached the door, he rapped the door twice with his knuckles before stopping an waiting for a response

"Come in." the voice came from behind the door, full of humour and with a hint of command

Officer Oak pushed open the door slowly, the office was quite large and dominated by a large dark wooden desk, which was covered in a scattered bed of paperwork and pens, four comfortable looking chairs sat in a rough semicircle on their side of the desk and the commander was sitting on the other sitting up straight his immaculate uniform and short black hair; the model of a perfect officer. Officer Oak took a deep breath and walked in followed by Simon and Iri "Sir!" Officer Oak gave a kind of half salute half wave "Simon here wanted to talk with you about Ginger"

"Iri..." Simon said through gritted teeth

"Yes?" Seiei entwined his fingers and gave Simon his full attention

Simon smiled nervously "Well sir..."

"Call me Seiei" Seiei said kindly

Simon nodded "Thank you, well I wanted to ask you if Iri could retire from police work and come with me."

"Iri?" Seiei looked confused for a second before drawing the only logical conclusion, he looked down at Iri "So you re-named her?"

Simon smiled "No, you did. Her mother named her Iri."

"How do you know?" Seiei asked sceptically

"I asked." Simon shrugged "Just ask Iri if you don't believe me."

Seiei smiled "You know what, I will." he turned his head to look at Iri "So Gi...Iri is what this boy says true?"

Iri nodded and barked happily when he used her proper name "Grooow lithhhe growww" she said ecstatically

Officer Oak looked to Simon for a translation "She's just happy that everyone knows her name." Simon shrugged

Seiei sighed "I'll admit this is... unusual, but what grounds do you have for retiring Gi...Iri" he shook his head "That may take some time to get used to."

Simon nodded "I know what you mean, when Ember changed her name it took me ages to learn her new one" he smiled warmly "As for reasons for retiring Iri, she's bored and wants to travel, as it is she wouldn't make a good guard dog and I doubt you have the man power to retrain her for something else on such short notice."

Iri gave a little angry growl when Simon said she would make a bad guard dog but otherwise agreed wholeheartedly with his explanation.

"Ging... Iri do you agree with Simon?" Seiei asked peering over his desk to gauge her reaction

"Groooow littthe groww litheee grow" Iri said nodding her head enthusiastically

Simon laughed "You wouldn't make a good guard, at least not the way they were intending to use you."

Iri nodded conceding the point "Grooow"

Simon scratched her behind the ear "It doesn't really matter though does it?" he looked at Seiei imploringly "So, what's your decision?"

Seiei crossed his arms "Well normally I wouldn't consider ever doing this..."

Simon and Iri both looked at him hopefully waiting for his to finish his sentence

"...but this is far from ordinary." Seiei smiled reassuringly "Officer will you please hand Ging... Iri's ball over to Simon"

"Yesss" Simon hissed pumping a fist

"Groooooooow" Iri howled happily

"Thank you, both of you." Simon said happily as Officer Oak handed Simon the blue and red ball that held Iri.

"I'll take you to the entrance" Officer Oak offered as they left Seiei's office

"Thanks" Simon said

Iri nodded "Grooow litheee" she echoed

"No problem" Officer Oak smiled petting Iri on the head "You guys be careful and try not to get arrested again."

Simon laughed "Yeah, I think I'll try and avoid that." he called back as he and Iri walked down the steps back onto the street "And thanks again!" he called


	31. Chapter 31

**Wildfire: Chapter 31**

Simon glanced around trying to get his bearings "Damn it!" he swore as he recognised as few buildings; he was back in Jubilife, there was no way he would make it to Professor Rowan's today.

With a sigh he decided that he would just head on to Oreburgh town and his first badge after a brief stop to rest up and introduce Iri to everyone. Looking around to get his bearing Simon recognised the large tower building of the Jubilife radio station. "Hmmm" he mumbled to himself "That station is up near the top of the city so if I head for it then I should find the main street."

Iri nodded her approval not finding any flaws with his logic

I took half an hour but Simon and Iri finally emerged onto the crowded street that ran through the heart of Jubilife. Iri, being raised in the city, wasn't really bothered by the large crowds although she found the lack of space somewhat annoying. As they walked down the street a small shop advertising berries caught Simon's eye; ducking in he quickly brought a bag of Chople berries they weren't much he decided, but he felt he owed his team something for having to stay in their balls for so long.

Soon the all too familiar white walls of the centre came into view, rising above the crowd. Simon gave a small sigh of relief when the doors slid aside to let him enter, the reception hall was a busy as ever with people pacing back and forth or standing in large groups and chatting. Chansey wandered through the crowd carrying pokeballs of all kinds, some handing them back to their trainers whilst others took them off into the back rooms for treatment. Slowly making his way through the throng of people Simon finally made it to the main desk, Nurse Joy smiled when she noticed him.

"Hello again, guess you couldn't stay out of the centre for too long could you?" she joked

Simon laughed "I guess not." he gave a small sigh "Can I have a room for the night please?"

"Of course," Nurse Joy reached under the desk and brought out a keycard which she handed to Simon with a smile "so why did you miss the appointment with Professor Rowan?"

"How do you know about that?!" Simon asked shocked

"He phoned me." Nurse Joy explained with a shrug "So why did you miss it?"

Simon blushed slightly "Well I got arrested on suspicion of Pokephilia." he admitted

Nurse Joy's face flashed with disgust briefly "Well I see you got out of that."

Simon nodded "Yeah, though I don't know why they suspected me in the first place." he lied

"So who's this little cutie?" Nurse Joy asked bending down to Iri's level and scratching her chin

"That's Iri." Simon laughed patting her head

"Where'd you get her?" Nurse Joy asked

Simon smiled "The police."

"Wait! What?" Nurse Joy stammered "How did you get her off the police?"

Simon shrugged "She was dying of boredom just being a guard do, so I asked her if she wanted to come along."

Nurse Joy shook her head "You just can't help yourself can you."

Simon laughed "I guess I'm just a sucker for a sob story."

Nurse Joy giggled but quickly turned serious"Could you do me a favour?"

Simon nodded "Sure, what is it?"

Nurse Joy reached down and unclipped a ball form her belt, handing it to Simon with a sigh, "This is a Charmander, he's been brought back here five times in a row because he refuses to fight." she gave Simon a sad smile "Do you think you could look after him?"

Simon looked down at the ball in his hands before looking back up at Nurse Joy "Sure, I'll try my best." he reassured her

"I'm sorry for dumping this on you." Nurse Joy apologized

"No, no, no. It's no trouble." Simon said clipping the ball to his belt "Well I guess I should probably get to my room." he laughed "If you hear screams don't worry it just means that Ember has set me on fire again."

Nurse Joy giggled "I'll bear that in mind, remember the fire extinguisher is in the corner."

Simon nodded as he made for his room "Thanks for the advice!" he called back.

Shutting the door behind him Simon flopped down on the bed with Iri jumping up beside him, "So are you ready to meet the gang?" he asked

"Grooow litheee growwww?" Iri giggled

"No I guess it doesn't." Simon admitted pulling Phoenix's, Nuri's and Ember's balls from his belt and tossing them gently onto the bed, releasing his friends in a blinding flash of white light.

They all appeared and stretched their muscles "Vuuul piiix vuuul" Ember complained as she turned to face Simon

"I know, I know." Simon said apologetically "It couldn't be helped I'm sorry!"

Ember huffed and sent a few glowing embers cascading into Simon's hair "Vuuul piix."

Simon smiled and tussled her head "Thanks." he turned to everyone "Alright, everyone meet Iri. Iri this is Ember, Phoenix and Nuri" he indicated to each of them as he spoke their names.

"Grow lithee!" Iri greeted them warmly, giving everyone a small lick on the cheek

"Vuuul" Ember replied returning the lick

Phoenix gave a warm smile and a curt "Quil!"

Nuri shied away hiding behind Ember's tails, however with some gentle coaxing from Simon and Ember she emerged and gave a timid "Eev" avoiding eye contact with Iri.

Simon smiled happy that they had been able to get off on the right foot "Alright!" he declared happily clapping his hands together, the sudden noise making Nuri jump and hide in Ember's tails again, "I'll go get us some food." he declared to a rousing cheer from the group.

Simon headed for the door, dumping his backpack against the wall, as he turned the handle he suddenly paused "Oh!" he laughed to himself, reaching into the bag and pulling out the small brown paper bag with the Chople berries in it "You guys can share these out amongst yourselves whilst I'm gone." he smiled reaching in he pulled out five of the berries, pocketing them for the Charmander, and tossed the rest of the bag over to Ember who caught it deftly; using her soft tails to absorb the impact and avoid bruising the berries.

"See you guys in a bit!" Simon called as he shut the door behind him "I'll be sure to get you some stew Phoenix, I know it's your favourite!" he added with a laugh quickly shutting the door to muffle the string of insults Phoenix called out in reply.


	32. Chapter 32

**Wildfire: Chapter 32**

Simon walked down the stairs shaking his head and laughing walking into the lobby he quickly located Nurse Joy, who was talking to a young child who was clutching at her female Nidoran, "Hey" Simon said smiling and waving as he walked up

"Hello" Nurse Joy replied "Can we talk in a bit I'm a bit busy" she added sounding slightly flustered. Leaning back down to the child's level she gave a reassuring smile "Come on Susie, I need you to give me Nida if I'm going to help her."

"No!" Susie cried clutching Nida closer to her chest and shaking her head violently

Simon gave a small sigh "I'll go ask a Chansey then. Good luck."

Nurse Joy flashed Simon a brief smile "Thanks" she mumbled before turning back to Susie

Simon gave a small wave as he walked to the main desk, part of him wondering exactly what was wrong with Nida since she had looked healthy enough to him, he reached the desk slipping past two Chansey wheeling a Tangrowth on a stretcher into the treatment ward.

The Chansey behind the desk gave a curtsey and a polite "Chan" as Simon approached

Simon smiled "I was wondering if I could place a food order"

Chansey nodded "Chan sey channn"

"Ok good" Simon replied nodding "Can I get..." he paused thinking for a second "six of your hottest chicken curry please?"

Chansey gave a small nod and disappeared into the back room

Simon pulled Charmander's ball off his belt "I wonder if you'll like curry too" he asked "Oh well if you don't I'll just get something else" he laughed clipping the ball back on his belt.

Soon enough the Chansey re-emerged carrying two trays, each with three bowls on, and handed them to Simon.

Simon smiled "Thanks" he took the trays from her balancing them on his hands "Send my pre-emptive compliments to the chef" he added as he carefully tried to navigate through the throng of people without spilling any of the food.

* * *

It took Simon a few minutes to traverse the main hall safely but he finally made it to the stairs that led up to the trainers' rooms. Sighing in relief as the crowds loosened he made his way upstairs and down the hall to his room. "Hmm" he mumbled as he reached the door "I should have thought this through." he laughed looking at the keycard reader, with a sigh he leant down carefully placing one of the trays on the floor before fishing through his pocket for the keycard itself. Finding it he took it out and swiped it through the reader, it flashed green as it recognised the card and the door unlocked with a faint mechanical click. Simon pushed the door open with his heel so it wouldn't re-lock as he leant down and carefully picked the tray up again "Hey guys! Dinner!" he called out

"Quiil avaaa quiiil!" Phoenix threatened

"Don't worry no need to hurt me, it's curry!" Simon laughed as he stepped through the doorway letting the door swing closed behind him.

"Quil" Phoenix smiled as they all approached Simon

Simon smiled and placed the trays on the ground grabbing two bowls, he placed one on the side and dug into the other "So are you and Iri going to get along?" he asked looking at his Pokemon and scratching Ember's head

"Vuuul piix" Ember nodded

"Good" Simon smiled "Iri?" he asked noticing that she hadn't eaten any of the curry "Don't you like it?"

Iri shrugged "Grooow litthhe grooow"

"Never had a curry?!" Simon exclaimed

"Vuuul piiix vuuul pix" Ember smiled gulping down about half of hers

"Eeev veeee eeev" Nuri said shyly obviously still nervous around Iri although she wasn't afraid of her anymore

Iri smiled "Groow" she said happily lowering her muzzle to the bowl and taking a tentative lick

"No problem" Simon smiled

"Vee"

"Vuuul"

"Quiil" Phoenix, Ember and Nuri all echoed his statement although Ember's reply was a bit gargled as she spoke with her muzzle in the curry

"Well?" Simon asked as Iri took her first taste of the curry

"Groooow lithee groow lithhhe" Iri said happily before downing more of her meal, her enthusiasm for the spicy food second only to Ember's

Simon laughed and shook his head "Now there's an endorsement; try curry, it's better then Pokemon food!"

Everyone laughed "Vuuul piix piiix?" Ember asked flicking a tail at the extra curry sitting on the sideboard

"Oh that!" Simon gasped, he had forgotten all about the Charmander "It's for this little guy" he said unclipping the ball from his belt.

"Quuuil ava?" Phoenix asked curious

Simon shrugged "I know it's a Charmander but not much else"

"Vuuul piiix vuul!" Ember exclaimed

"Well I was just about to." Simon responded smiling as he flicked the ball into the air "Come on out Charmander!"

In a bright flash of light a Charmander materialised before the group, he gave a small resigned sigh as he looked around, "Chaaar mander chaaaaarrrrr maaaander?" he asked turning to the closest Pokemon it could see, Ember, for answers.

"Well I guess that would be me." Simon said "I'm Simon by the way, nice to meet you."

Charmander spun round to look at Simon, his eyes wide with surprise, behind him everyone was giggling quietly and in most cases recalling their own reactions to this revelation.

"Chaar chhar mander?" Charmander asked slowly

Simon just nodded slowly "Yeah"

"Chaaar maaander maaander chaar!" Charmander exclaimed his eyes widening a little more

Simon chuckled "Yeah, I'm human. So?"

"Chaaaar maaander maaander maander!" Charmander continued

"Correction, most humans can't understand Pokemon" Simon replied smiling reassuringly at the confused Pokemon

"Chaar chaar?" Charmander stuttered

Simon shrugged "I learnt, it's not hard."


	33. Chapter 33

**Wildfire: Chapter 33**

Hey everyone, I know this chapter is a bit short but I wanted to upload to let you know I'm bringing this story off the back burner and since I don't really want to upload for just that I wrote a quasi chapter, hope you enjoy

* * *

Charmander shook his head in disbelief turning back to Ember "Chaar manderrr char chaar?"

Ember giggled slightly and shook her head "Vul"

"Why would I be joking?" Simon asked chuckled softly under his breath leaning down he rested a hand gently on the shocked Pokemon's head "So do you have a name?"

Charmander paused for a second in thought "Charr chaaar manderr char mander manderrrr chaarr, chaaar manderrr charrr." he explained

Simon blinked "Umm.. what?" he smiled apologetically

Charmander frowned "Chaaar mander chaarr?"

Simon smiled "I don't know everything" he chuckled "I'm finding more and more holes in what Ember taught me of late"

Nuri padded forward "Eeev eev veee eev?" she tried

Simon nodded "So each trainer gave you a different name? Is that right?" Charmander nodded giving a small squeak of agreement waiting for the inevitable follow up question of why he had so many trainers. "So which name do you prefer?" Simon continued

Charmander looked up at Simon and paused, he had never really thought about that before, "Charrr" he finally said

Simon nodded "Ingis?" he grinned when Ingis nodded "Alright then Ingis it is"

"Groww litheee grow?" Iri asked, Ingis flinched it was the question he had been dreading.

"I'll field that" Simon said unable to keep a grin of his face when he saw the look of shock plastered on Ingis' "He refuses to fight and so his trainers constantly abandon him."

"Ch-chaar manderr?" Ingis stuttered

"Yeah, Nurse Joy told me when she gave me your ball." Simon leant down and smiled reassuringly at Ingis "The thing I don't understand is why you suddenly stopped fighting."

Ingis looked down slightly avoiding eye contact "Charrr manderrr chaaaarr chaar, charrrr manderr manderr charrr. Charrrrr manderrrr chaaar chaaaaarr manderrr! Charrr mander char!" he explained

Simon blinked "I only got like half of that, your trainer said something about evolving and then something about your family."

Ember gave small sigh "Vuuull piix vuuul pixxx pix vuuuul vuul. Vuuuuul piiix piiiix" she repeated Ingis in simpler language

Simon nodded "Why don't you want to evolve then?"

Ingis sniffed slightly a few tears collecting in his eyes "Chaar chaar mander chaar! Chaaar manderrr manderr."

Simon nodded again "Evolving won't make you a monster" he said softly "Just because one Charmeleon is evil doesn't make them all evil."

Ingis shook his head "Chaar! Chaarrr char!" he said vehemently

Simon just gave a soft sigh "Alright, I'm not going to force you to fight if you don't want to"

Ingis looked up at Simon his face filled with hope "Char?"

Simon chuckled "Yes really, why would I lie about something like this?"

Ingis looked down "Chaar chaar... mander charrr mander" he apologized sadness creeping back into his voice

Simon smiled reassuringly and rubbed Ingis' head "It's fine"he reached out grabbing the last bowl of curry and placing it in front of Ingis "Here you go"

Ingis gaze snapped between Simon and the food before drifting over to the other Pokemon most of whom where wearing similar reassuring smiles to Simon, Nuri however was watching cautiously from behind Ember's tails, satisfied he was safe Ingis dug into the food with abandon.

Simon watched Ingis eat for a little while before sighing and stretching "I don't know about you guys but I'm beat"

Nuri nodded her agreement giving a tiny yawn "Vee" she agreed softly; her agreement came as no great surprise to Simon since she was still a kit.

The others all shook their head, they still had a good few hours of energy in them especially since they had spent most of the day in their balls. Simon nodded "Ok then, me and Nuri will turn in, try not to set anything on fire."

Ember smirked slight "Vull pix" she replied sticking her tongue out at Simon

Simon shook his head, laughing, as he slipped into the bathroom to change into his pyjamas.


End file.
